Running Against The Rain
by Rocks-my-socks
Summary: AU. As news of the tram crash spreads, one past resident is drawn home again. It is not long before her presence there is once more felt, but can her past lead her surrogate son and granddaughter to a happier future in the wake of a devastating loss?
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer:** None of Coronation Streets wonderful characters belong to me!

It is all coming back to me now – Celine Dion

**Running Against The Rain**

Prologue

_December 1943_

Torrential rain. Completely torrential and as the young man and wife looked out on to the war torn street, neither could help but laugh and neither knew why.

They had been married all of twelve minutes and twenty eight seconds. They had known one another six days – a week ago they had not been part of one another's lived.

And yet when she had seen him that very first time, she had just knew he was the boy for her and he was always going to be. Later in life, she was going to rue the day she had met him in moments of anger. She would tell all who would be kind enough to listen to her that all the good young men had been away fighting in the war and so it had been no wonder she had ended up with such a hopeless case.

And it was all going to be a lie.

Because from the moment Hilda Crabtree had set eyes on Stan Ogden the truth was there had not been another man in the world for her and she knew there would never have been another husband for her cause how could there be? She had him.

He would be her man even when he had been utterly useless to her. There would be times when she had needed him to comfort to her and he had not even patted her hand. And he would cheat. And he would lie. And he would generally not be the person she needed him to be when she was going through her darkest days and her worst times.

And he would steep so low as to steal from her. Yes, he would do all of that...

But at that moment the young girl knew nothing of this. She was just nineteen years old. She had put on a very convincing portrayal of a young woman remarkably in love.

Good enough for her mother and her father to say yes to this fool hardy marriage even though they thought it was going to bring her nothing but misery if they were honest.

But the truth was it had not been hard for her to put on that portrayal for it was the truth. She was _remarkably_ in love.

And at that moment her groom felt the same. He had never thought he would and even at that moment had he been asked then, he did not think he would admit to it but it was the truth. He was mad about his bride.

As they settled from the rain under the church roof, family and friends around them all wondering if they were really witnessing a marriage that was made to last, there was one thing that was quite obvious only to the two of them.

They were crazy about one another.

Stan bent down and he gave his lovely wife a kiss on her nose, only not going straight for her lips as they were still under the watchful eye of her father. He knew he had given her to him but when they had a daughter as he was sure they were going too, he hoped the young man he would give her to would be willing to show him the same curtsey.

"You know it is going to be ages until we can even get out of here," said Alice Crabtree to her husband as the two of them watched their daughter bath in her husband's only too apparent affection.

Hilda heard her mother and as she drew away from Stan. She bit her lip and for a moment he was going to ask her what she was doing but then he saw what she was thinking in her eye and she seemed to him more wild and wonderful than she ever had before.

In later years, he was going to curse the day he had met her; she was a nag; she was moody; she never got his dinner on the table when he had walked through the door.

But the truth was for Stanley Ogden there could never be another wife for him; mistresses yes but not a wife.

He knew that his wife was going to have to be a special kind of women to put up with him and Hilda seemed to fit the bill.

She was sweet and she was innocent and she was willing to see the good in him when everyone just seemed to see the bad. He did not think he had ever had that before. He knew his mam and his dad had loved him but he had been called a rotten egg more times than he had cared to remember so to have her say to him that she wanted to be with him for the rest of her life... Well, it had been a big thing and though he did not know how much he was going to be able to give her on a realistic scale, he thought he was going to try and give her the world as long as he could.

Taking one another's hand they went out in to the street and the pair of them side by side ran against the rain. Both of them were able to hear their mothers calling that they should not be doing what they were as they were in there best clothes, (for it had been a such short notice, there had been no time for Hilda to get a wedding dress; it was only a miracle she had had a white summer one!) and they were going to get wrecked.

But to the young couple that didn't matter.

They were in the first flourished of young love and they were going to be together no matter what even when they did not really want to be.

Both had taken the vows they had made to one another seriously.

And so they run unaware but hopeful they were indeed going to spend the next forty years running against the rain together. Hand in hand.

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	2. Chapter 1

_Author Note: _SORAS used to deage Dawn by five years from the canon time line.

**Chapter 1**

_December 2010_

It was hardly very surprising but there was a depressed mood in the house at Bury when the inhabitants got up.

Two months before life for them had been normal. They lived in a household made up of a mother, father, daughter and grandmother. There had been nothing special about them.

But with one of those now missing and irretrievable, the only thing they knew was that the tranquilly of the happy family life they had shared with one another was now gone forever and there was nothing they were going to be able to do to get it back. At least it felt that way.

And typically it had been the glue which had held the rest of them together which had been taken away from them.

The mother.

Mother and wife and if he was honest with himself, which had always tried to be; Eddie Yeats did not know how they were going to cope with out her.

She had always been there for him; always with a smile; always his Marion. Or so he tried to fool himself...

Now here he sat at the table in his dressing gone wondering what on earth he was going to do with his life now. He had always thought he was going to get to grow old with Marion. He knew he was fairly old already, being sixty nine but he had always thought she and he were going to reach their eighties before they were parted at least; maybe he had been a little hopefully.

The doctors had come to him and they had said his wife had suffered a heart attack but it had all been over so fast that she would have known very little of it. He guessed they had said it to comfort him but it had proved very little comfort to him indeed.

She was still gone and she was still not going to be coming back to him and that was a fact he had to get used to. Typically of him, he had been out when it had happened and so he had had no chance to help her. He had not even found her.

Guilt pervaded him once more as he recalled the haunted look in his daughters eyes when he had come rushing through the door to find his life had been completely changed since the time he had gone out of it. He had taken his daughter Dawn in his arms but if he had been a comfort to her he did not know and did not like to ask for fear of them answer. He liked to think he had.

But he had no way of knowing. She had been so shut off to him since it had always happened. And god only knew she was not going to open up to him. She had always been her mammy's girl.

It was at that moment she came in to the room and she wished she had not. He had practically done nothing but tip toe around her since they had lost her mum it seemed and she wished for the love of all that was good that they could just get back to normal... but she knew they were never going to normal again for how could they be?

"Morning," She muttered as she went over to the fruit bowl and picked up a banana not looking at him so much as once.

"Morning pickle, how did you sleep?"

She had slept as she had ever since she had walked into fine her beloved mother on the ground deed. Terribly - nightmares plague her. She had had bad dreams every night – but it was not as if she could go to him to ask him to keep the monsters away from her now she was twenty one was it?

"Fine," she said as she continued to keep the distances between them when he wanted nothing more than to close the divide. They were father and daughter and it was if they were going through what had gone on in completely separate spheres.

"Do you want me to get dressed? I can drive you in to collage?"

"No need. I am meeting the girls to walk in." She said as she threw on her coat.

"Fast food is meant to be for lunch and dinner, not for breakfast."

When she had been a kid, she had loved long lazy breakfasts with her mum and him. Now days he did not know when the last time she had had a fry up or a decent meal.

Man could not live on fruit and veg alone could he? He didn't think so...

Having learnt early on when she had been grieving for her mum that pressing an issue was only going to get the two of them into a fight, he dropped the matter.

"Baby, have a good day."

He knew it was a dumb thing to say for no day had been good for either them in quite some time but it did struck a chord with her apparently.

Dawn knew she had been off with him. And none of it was his fault... not really.

She had had a happy childhood. She could not think of a time when she had had to hear her mum and her dad fighting.

They had always been there to kiss her good night at the end of the day and tuck her in. Now that was gone, it just felt so wrong to her and she had no idea how to cope with the fact that world was gone mad.

She was twenty one- but she had not felt so young in quite some time.

In a small concession, she walked over to the table and gave her father a kiss on his forehead.

She was not angry at him; she was angry at life for robbing her of her mum; but he had had the misfortune to turn into her punch bag as he was the closet one left to her.

She offered a small smile and then she was gone from the room.

He sighed. So that was it for another day. She was going to have dinner out and he would do a micro wave meal for himself and his surrogate mother, they were going to watch bad TV and then they were going to go to bed and when they got up in the morning they were going to do it all again and try and act as if what was going on in their house was normal to boot.

As if knowing he needed help, Hilda came down the stairs, looking at him with pity. With her biological kids she had hardly had thriving relationships, and so she had always taken so much time to make sure she did have with Eddie and with his girl. She never wanted to see their relationship turn sour. He had been the father to Dawn that Stanley should have been to there own girls.

Or he had been till now.

"I just have no idea how I am meant to get through to her at the moment," he said to the women exasperated by everything which had gone on that morning and the mornings before.

"Love, I wish I easy answers for you but you know I don't."

If Stan was there then he would say they were to stop passing footing about the girl, but a few weeks the two of them has tried that and it had made her stay out more.

What they needed was Dawn to open up – not with draw further.

Maybe because she had never been the type to wear her heart on her sleeve, Hilda Ogden had to say she was getting rather annoyed at the girl as well as feeling pity for her. It was her grandmother's opinion that Dawn should be there as more of a comfort to her father just then.

God only knew, Eddie needed her and yet she was just not there.

As for her own grief, it had been curbed by the fact that it had been a long time since she had actually liked Marion or had any respect for her. Yes she had been a diligent mother to her daughter; the two of them had been as close as anything.

But she was yet to forget the rather large indiscretion she had happened about her daughter's seventh birthday. The one that had been kept from Dawn. The one which had broken her Eddie's heart.

Of course, he had taken her back in a heartbeat with no repercussions. She did not like to even think about what Stan would have said and done to her if he had found out she had been going with someone else behind his back. Especially in the early days.

But Eddie was swift to forgive those he loved and in Hilda's opinion had always been soft in the head and twice as thick as cream. But he was more of a son to her than he had ever been since that event. It had been her he had come to for council and she guessed she may have been instrumental in Marion's swift forgiveness. There were far too many young marriages ending far too fast and she had not wanted his to join the swelling ranks.

She had not wanted to see her Dawn grow up in a one parent family either and so she had told them to stick at it and work through any issues they might have with one another, for the feelings would fade in time and then once more they would be left with the love they felt for one another.

But as for her she had never loved Marion again and she had made sure she had known it. Had she known they were going to lose her so suddenly then she wondered if she would have done anything different but then he was almost glad she had had no chance to alter her behaviour for she had never been a hypocrite and always honest.

It had not mattered to her the number of times that women had protested to her that what she had done was a mistake.

In Hilda's eyes, for a women to stray outside of her marriage vows was unforgivable.

But then she wondered what had they really expected from a women who had lodged with Elsie Tanner? She had always said she had had all the morals of an alley cat.

She just had not realised that had gone for her tenant as well and had she known then she would have done all she could to put a stop to the marriage before it had begun.

Putting her hand on his arm as she sat down she sighed. They were in a bit of a mess to be sure.

"We are living in the same house but she is so far away from me now." he said as he got up and put the kettle on.

Over the years since the pair of them had lost Stan she had got a lot more used to him waiting on her than it being the other way round. When they had moved to Bury the one thing Marion had made sure he knew that she was not going to be a wife of Hilda's school. No, in everything they did they were going to be equal partners and so that meant once their daughter had been old enough she had been able to go out and get a well paying job and he had to his fair share of the house work as well as with Dawn.

He had felt emasculated to begin with but he had soon seen the benefits and he had even almost enjoyed the work he did in the house and knew the extra time he had got with his daughter was invaluable. Of course, had he told Stan in those last few months of his life that he was cleaning at home – god forbid, a man doing 'women's work' – then he would have got a right ribbing.

But then he guessed he was very different from Stanley.

And thank god she had made him do it for if she had not then he would have been lost just then. He knew how to keep the house going even if there did not seem a lot of point of it at that moment when they were all so far apart.

Throwing two bags in two tea cups he sighed.

"I take it she was no brighter?"

"Barely strings two words together these days, does she?" he asked and she shook her head.

"I just wish I knew how to be there for her at the moment, our Hilda. She is my daughter but I am not a lot more to her than a sack of spuds."

"But that is because she is not letting you be."

"God, I always thought Marion was going to be the first to go you know. I didn't think I was going to face this without her."

"When you are married you never do."

She was well aware that Stan would never have coped had she been the one to on before him but that did not change the fact she wished he had been.

"I know you know what I am going through. I am sorry if I ain't being a lot of help to you at the moment," he apologised.

"What are you on? I lost my Stan gone twenty year –" it was not the sort of thing she was ever going to get used to but the time when he had had to be there for her instead of the other way round was gone. "Well, you don't have to worry about me," she said to him as she gave him a gentle smile. "You let me worry about me and you just think of how the hell we are going to bring that daughter of yours out of herself once more."

Worrying over Hilda was going to be an easier task thought Eddie but he nodded.

Ever since he had been a kid he had been 'muddling through'; what he had was been 'better than nowt'; and now as usual all he could do was 'his best'.

And yet none of it was ever good enough. He wanted to do more for those who he loved.

Once he'd made them both a brew, he went out in to the hall where he found the posts had arrived. Bills, the last few with sympathy cards he was going to ignore for he wanted no one sympathy and the newspaper.

Putting it on the side he headed up stairs to get ready for the day.

He did not know what he was going to do with it yet. He supposed as it was his day off he might as well drive Hilda in to town so that she could get a few bits and he could do the shopping.

Maybe he would go and find a new film to watch for Saturday night.

None of which seemed very appetizing to him.

And then he guessed he had to begin thinking about Christmas not that he wanted to do – in fact he just wanted to ignore then entire festival.

He did not want to remember the last Christmas when he had not been with his wife, just because she had not been there and now he was facing every holiday without her for the rest of his life.

When he had got married and he had had a child, Eddie had thought he had turned his life about but somehow it always felt like it just came back to him being on his own with not a lot of hope of a better future.

Who was he these days? Was he just an old scouse widower with no hope left?

He sighed.

Nothing very special about him.

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	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

On the way into town, Hilda got Eddie to drop her at the club. She went to the old peoples place twice a week to keep up with the gossip and to get out of his hair for a while. She knew he would never say it; that he needed a break from her but he was young compared to her and it was sometimes, she knew, those we love the most we needed the longest break from.

Her Stan had taught her that.

But none of these thoughts were in her head as they drove along and she was for once grateful Eddie had so much on his mind. He was not taking a lot of notice of what she was doing because if he did then he would see she was obviously distressed.

The newspaper which had come through there letter box had been the bearer of bad news for her that day and she did not know what she was going to do about it; she only knew she had to do something for there was no way after what she had just read that she was going to be able to sit idle.

She wanted someone, anyone to come and tell her what she had just found out was untrue because if it was then for the first time twenty six years she had really just found out something which had the power to break her heart afresh.

There had been a tram crash on Coronation Street – _her _Coronation Street – and from the pictures that had bad been in the paper it did not look as if it had just been human casualties – there had been three of those apparently – and the cobbles which had suffered for it.

She knew it was cruel to mourn a house when people had lost there lives but at that moment it was the only thing she found she could think of...That it had gone into her number thirteen and now it was never going to be the house she had spent so many years in again. She knew that when Sally and Kevin would have probably taken it down as soon as they got in on their own for they were so young but – her muriel was gone as well.

It was all gone.

And that was the last house she had shared with her –

It had been the only house the two of them had ever owned and it had been more than a house to her; it had been a proper home where they had been able to sleep soundly together.

All her memories of the life they had shared together were there and it was only when she got out of the car and was told by Eddie he was going to be back to get her in a couple of hours that she knew what she was going to do.

What she had to do.

Eddie may well come back for her but she was not going to be there. Knowing that due to the fact he would want to protect her, he would never take her back to the street himself she got the cab to the railway station and caught the first train she could to Weatherfield.

She knew what she was going to find there was only going to upset her so there was not a lot of point to it but she felt as if one of her own had been injured or worst and so she had to go back.

She _had _too.

Her mind was teaming with thoughts and memories all the way back from Bury to the little town where she had been so happy if only for a time. She did not think she had rose tinted glasses on over it because she knew she had had some rotten times when she had lived in Weatherfield.

Loads of bad times; when she had had the break down and she had got lost in Liverpool; when Stan had been accused of being a pepping tom; when he had left her and when she had lost him forever.

She had still not got over the fact that she had let him go to hospital and she had been at home when he had passed.

She had always been at his side and she had tended is every need.

And so when she had found out the house where _they_ had been king and queen was destroyed her guilt doubled. She did not know why and she did not think she was ever going too; for it was not her fault that the tram had come down was it?

But it felt as if it had been an end of an era for her all over again and as she got down off of the train she had to move the question to if she had done the right thing to the other side of her brain. She had to have done the right thing for she was there now.

When she got there she was able to get in a cab to take her to the street. No longer for her were the worries of past days when she had had to watch every penny. When she had been working for her good doctor she had been able to build up quite a nest egg and she was planning on leaving it to the children.

But she did not think they were going to miss a tenner.

"Are you sure you want to go there?" asked the cabbie.

The way he looked at her made her feel sad and she knew it was true. Her little street had been hit by terror and she knew anyone who was sane would not go there.

But the compelling feeling in her heart made her go on and she nodded.

"Please take me. I will pay you double to take me if need be," she told him sharply and he nodded.

"No need at all, lady," he said clearly uncomfortable at the thought of taking an old women's pension from her and so he started up the ignition and did as she had asked him too.

Hilda Ogden for the first time in twenty six years was homeward bound.

\/\/\/\/

Claire Peacock was distraught. Ashley was gone. After they had loved for so long and now he was gone. After all she had said about France. She knew they had not had the best of marriages and she had not been the easiest of wives but she had not expected to be a widow before she had hit her middle age.

She had not wanted to lose him – ever.

So when she saw an old woman looking up at her house mournfully she could not help but feel both annoyed and freaked out.

\/\/\/\/

When Hilda had got to the street, she knew even had she tried she would never have been able to prepare herself for the state of her beloved home.

She did not know why she had not been happy with her memories.

They had been good memories for the most part. She could still recall her leaving party when she had been wished as they had waved her goodbye. The mere memory made her eyes tear. It had been so unexpected...

And so why she had come back was to her a mystery.

The rubble which had once been her adored home broke her heart. It was like in the war when she had come out of the black out and she had seen just a few bricks still standing where a house had once been.

"By heck," she said to herself.

There were a thousand ways she could say it to herself but the fact remained when she looked at the house she only saw one thing.

Stanley.

The human lump of human uselessness himself. And she missed him.

She knew what they had said. That he had never been a comfort to her. But he had been. In his own way, she had to say and in a way no one else would have been able to understand. But he had been a comfort to her. He had been her best friend...as well as her worst enemy.

"Who are you?" a voice demanded of her.

She had not been spoken to in that time in quite some times she thought as she looked at the young woman who had dared to do so. She felt as if she was going to be scolded by her as if she had been some naughty school girl.

"Here for the show are you?"

"No, I am not!" she said insulted by the insinuation.

Some things never changed about the little street did they? There were obviously still gobby young women living on it.

The only difference was she wasn't one of them anymore.

"Then why are you here? To see how the crazy butcher's wife from number thirteen is going to cope now her husband's has gone?" she yelled at her and there were tears in her eyes and Hilda knew had things been different then she would have had a great deal of sympathy for the girl; and she did. She knew the pain she was going through after all. She had been there; she was a widow. But as it was she had not let Annie Walker talk down to her where she had been able to help it and she was not going to let this little madam.

"Now, you listen here you and you listen good. I am here to pay my respect to an old friend and nowt else. I'm sorry about your husband love, but if you are looking for an argument then let's go cause I can't say I have had a barmy I have really enjoyed in quite some while."

She was going to be damned before she played the frail old lady. She recalled how scared she had been in her last few months on the street – they were not happy memories but she felt she had regained her confidence since then and it was going to go nowhere.

"Claire, come on love," a voice said from behind the younger of the two grieving widows. Becky had been there for her more than ever since she had lost Ashley.

"No, she is here to stare at me as if I am some sort of old freak show."

Hilda shook her eyes sympathy and her eyes conveyed the sympathy she did have for her. "It is the house I came for – not you."

And as she looked up at what had once been her little end terrace she felt her age. She felt battle scared and weary. Not scared but ... tired.

Everything which had made up her old life when she had lived on this street seemed to be gone and it made her feel even older still.

The young women who had come to drag her friend away have her gave her the evil eye but she didn't care. She had not pussy footed about anyone except those she loved in her life. She was not going to allow anyone to talk down to her when she had done nothing to warrant it.

With one last look up at the rubble she told herself she was doing herself no good. It was three o'clock. Eddie had dropped her off at eleven and so he was going to have no idea where she was. And he was going to be worrying over her.

She should ring and let him know really. After everything that had gone on he did not deserve to go through this.

But as she was there she did not think she was able to resist going in to the Rovers for a swift one. The pub was opening – some things never changed. Stanley would be proud of her...

Going in to the pub which had once been her local she looked about it and saw looks of long faces, none of which she recognised. They looked as heartbroken as she felt.

"A brandy," she said as she got to the bar and the middle aged women who was standing there nodded.

"This one is on me love. Everyone who comes in here for a drink today from what I can see _needs_ it."

"That's very generous of you."

"Well the pub is the centre of the community. And we have to keep going I guess. You from round here?"

"Aye chuck I am – or at least I was a long time ago."

"How long?"

"Longer than I care to remember," she said as she walked over to the empty booth to take five minutes for her own before she had to ring Eddie.

He had tried to get her used to one of those mobile phones. It hadn't worked of course and they had just kept on getting 'lost' to his annoyance. In the end, he had given up because he knew she knew her own mind and once she made it up there was no one else who could change it.

Sometimes, she thought he understood her a lot better than her husband ever had.

As she sat there in the pub, she could almost see Stan there at her side. He had spent a lot more time in here than he had back at number 13 when they had been going through one of their various rough patches.

At the time, she had felt she had had to fight her corner but when she looked back the only thing she could think was how stupid some of their rows had been.

She found for a time she had been able to move on but the elder she got the more she thought of him. And being there made her longing for him worst.

It was not the husband she regretted but it was the friend. Someone who saw life the way she did at the end of the day. Many a times they had argued about the means but they had agreed about the ends.

Yes, that was the way her marriage had been.

They had agreed when it had come to the most important things and the most important thing had been that they were always together.

They had been running together against the rain from day one.

\/\/\/\/

Sally felt like staying beneath the bed covers and never getting out of them. Not only was she worried over those who had been hurt when the tram had crushed she was once more nursing a broken heart – her own.

Kev had cheated. Kev had lied. Kev had had a child with another woman.

And when she had had cancer and he had been there telling her sweet nothings. Had it meant anything to him at all she had to wonder or had he been by her side out of duty?

When she had got ill and she had then got better, she felt as if she had been a given a new lease of life and she had wanted to share that with him because he had been the best husband to her when she had been sick.

He had been the very meaning of the word devoting and she had fallen in love with him all over again. When she had recovered he had made her feel young and beautiful and she had got all the conformation she had thought she was ever going to need that she had been right to marry him all over again. But now Natalie had come back to haunt her all over again in the form of Molly only she did not ever get the answers she needed from her because she had died.

She had died and she knew if she went back to Kev then they were going to have to look after that tiny baby; the reminder of everything she was so desperate to forget at that moment.

The one and only thing that made it easier for than when it happened before was that the girls were so much older and they knew what was going on.

Was it so much different to what she had done with Ian? Her head said no. Her heart screamed yes.

Kev had had a baby with another women and it was killing her.

For the first time in months, she did not want to get out of bed. She had not let anything get her down but then she had thought she had had a husband who loved her. It was as if her whole world had been changed and there was not a thing in the world she was able to do about her.

She had been lying there for quite some time when she felt a pair of arms wrap about her and she knew her daughtesr was there for her.

Both of them and Sian had come in to her room and all three had tears in their eyes. She knew she was still not entirely sure about what her youngest child and the girl felt for one another but Sian had always been a good girl and she had become part of the family since she had been living with them. She was so glad Rosie and Sophie both were with someone at that moment as it meant they had someone to rant too and Sally liked Jason just as much as she did Sian. She did believe he was good for Rosie deep down.

"Don't worry about me girls," She said as she sat up and took hold of her daughters hand and looked at Sian as she said it to make sure she knew she counted her as one of her girls as well. "I am going to be ok," She said as she sat up and looked at the clock.

It was half past two.

Ok, so she was not exactly fine – she had not yet even got up but she was going to be ok.

"Do you know what you are going to do yet?" Rosie said to her and there was no begging for her dad in her voice as there had been when she and Sophie had been kids. It was a question from one woman to another.

"I have no idea."

"You know what ever you say is fine by us, mum," Sophie told her with a smile.

"Thank you," she said as she kissed her cheek. Sophie may be fifteen but she was still her baby.

"We are going to be here for you no matter what Mrs. Webster," Sian chipped in as they shared a smile. She had been more of mum to her since she had come out than her own had been and she did not know how she was ever going to repay her for all she had done for her.

"Then I think we are going to be ok girls." She said as she threw off the duvet so that it encased Sophie. "I had better get up and get in the shower."

"Ok but I should warn you about you'll mobile mum."

"Packed from messages from your dad," she asked Rosie's whose nod confirm what she guessed she had known.

"You know if you two want to go and see him then that is with me don't you." She told them. She was not going to make them pick sides, it wasn't fair.

"And why would we?"

"Where is he? Do we know?"

"I think he is over at Devs." Rosie told her with a shrug.

"How is everyone?"

"Rita is home and at Emily's but there all saying Sean is not doing so well. Apparently Eileen is up the hospital with him and so Michelle. There just going to have to wait and see how he gets on."

"We'll send a card up to the hospital, eh girls?" They nodded. "See there are always people who are less fortunate than us lot. At least we have our health, eh?"

The two girls looked at one another. They had both always loved there mum but they had really only begun to know how great she was when the pair of them had nearly lost her to cancer and they had both turned into mummies girl in the year that had followed.

Stunned by the courage there mum was facing once more showing in the face of her life going to pot once more, they both burst in to tears and hugged her.

An hour later Sally knew she was ready to go out and face the world. Everyone knew what had happened but she had done nothing wrong and so she had nothing to be ashamed of; if any one said anything to her then she was going to have the courage to face it out.

She had said to the girls they were going to be ok and now she had to back up what she was saying with actions. So once they had all got changed she told them they were going to go the right thing and get out and show their faces. If she could do it, then so could they.

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	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Eddie was beside himself. He had said to Hilda he was going to be back to get her so he did not know why she had left the club. She never did stuff like this and while he knew she was not such an old lady yet, he did not like not knowing where she was. He had had a bit of a drive about to look for her but then he had been unsure if she had her keys on her to let herself in if she got back before he did and so he had decided to come back.

Another drive later and a few phone calls to her friends later he had no idea how he was going to get hold on her and he was worried.

What if something had happened to her? A car? A fall? Anything?

She may not know it but before he had passed on, Stan had made Eddie promise him that no matter what went on he would always keep an eye on Hilda on him for him - just to make sure she was ok and he could not stand the thought he was letting the best pal he had ever had down.

On top of everything else, it was just too much to deal with at that moment.

"Hilda?" he said as the door opened and turned to see it was not her but his daughter.

"Everything ok?" asked Dawn as she came down the stairs a curious look on her face and it was not long before she too was concerned by the look her dad had on his face.

"Your Nan left the club before I picked her up today and I am not sure where she has got too," He explained to his child. "Kid, is it ok if I go out and have another look? You stay here and wait by the phone lass?" he said to her and she nodded.

"Of course," she said to him with a nod, not having to so much as think about it. "You go out."

It had been a long time since he had felt this united with his child and he gave her a sad soft smile.

"You're a good girl our kid," he said as she leant over and gave her a kiss on the forehead. "I don't plan on being long."

"I'll sort us something for us tea." She told him, taking that worry off his mind.

"There's a good pet." He said as headed towards the door leaving her wondering where the hell Hilda was and why she had not rang home if she had been missing for a while.

Hilda knew she did have to ring home but the problem was off whose phone... there had been a time when she knew she could have gone into any house of the street and call if she were in trouble, (not that she would have needed too on account of her living so close by.)

But the option would be nice and most welcome right then.

She did not know if anyone she knew was still there. She would have liked to think if Sally and Kevin had moved on that they would have told her but it seemed as if they had sold number thirteen on. They'd written every Christmas but it had been near a year ago since she had heard from them...

And then there was Rita and Betty and the Duckworth's and Gail... but she did not know if they were going to be in the same houses as they had been when she had gone and she did not like to go out knocking.

No, she was just going to have to ask the land lady if she might use the phone.

She had seemed quite nice when they had had a chat but god only knew she was no Mrs Walker and since she had come back to the street, it seemed to just fill her with disappointment so much had changed. She had told some one that day that she had been from there once, that it had been her home once.

Once upon a time...

Well not any more. Deep down, she had known it had really ceased to be her home the day she had lost her husband. She just had not the courage to admit it.

She knew a lot of people had thought she was soft in the head over him when he had been alive. Yet that day she seemed even softer on him now he was dead.

Oh, she had to get out of there and she had to ring Eddie to tell him she was ok before she got the train back or he was going to want to kill her...

Besides, if that day had taught Hilda anything it was that there was nothing left for her in Weatherfield now that her Stan and their beloved house was gone. She should not have come back to the ghost town.

She had been about to get up and go though when the door to the Rovers opened and everyone who had been in the pub feel silent. Apparently just opening the door counted as a big entrance for some people that day.

/\/\/\/\

As the girls and Sally walked into the Rovers Return, they were all feeling rather nervous; what Kevin had done they feared had made them all in to laughing stocks but if there was one thing they all knew for sure it was that Sally was not going to let herself be beaten. She had been through too much over the past year to let it get to her too much and she was going to be damned if she did.

Seeing Liz standing behind the bar she took a deep breath as she walked up to it.

"Liz, can I get two white wines and two oranges juices for me and the girls."

"Of course you can," said the barmaid and Sally took the opportunity to give the girls a reassuring smile. As long as the four of them were standing shoulder to shoulder then they were going to be able to front that day out because they had too.

"These are on me love," said Liz as she handed them over.

"Thank you. Is there any news on Sean yet?"

Liz shook her head. "Michelle is going to ring as soon as there is she has promised me that much."

Sally nodded appreciably that Liz had to be worried over her bar man as well and decided it was best if she and the girls went to find a little corner to sit in together and discuss how they were going to take things from there.

There was not a person on the street who had not been shook by what had happened.

"Sally?" the voice that had called her name took her back years and years to when she and Kevin's had been kids setting out on life together and sure enough as she turned, she saw the face of Hilda Ogden looking back at her.

"Oh my god," she said as she went over to the booth and the girls all gave her quizzical looks as to what was going on. They had or at least her daughters had both heard about Hilda enough over the years but they had never met her before.

She found seeing the old woman was just what she had needed at that moment but before she was able to stop herself she let the tears she had been stopping flow down her cheeks. She threw her arms about her.

"Oh and there was me thinking you might be happy to see me." Said Hilda as she drew back and saw the younger women's tears but if she told the truth then she knew Sally was and would always be a girl to her.

She would always be the Seddon girl who had needed her to be as a mum to her so much.

It did not take her long to pick up on the fact that the three girls who were standing round all were heartbroken for her over something or other as she pulled the girl into the booth gently to sit down with her for a moment.

"Now what's wrong with you lovvie?"

When the girls picked up that the old lady knew Sally, they sat down on the other side of the table waiting for Sally to stop crying as they did so but she felt as if she was never going to stop now she had started.

"I am, I just can't believe you are really here. I did not think I was ever going to see you on this street again. Why are you here, Hilda?" asked Sally as she tried to control her tears

"Chuck, I read what had gone on in the papers and I felt as if I had to come to see it for myself or I don't think I ever would have believed it."

Sally braced herself. Form the first time she had met her she had known how much the street had meant to her. It was strange how some places were just there you lived and other places became your home no matter how far you away from it. She had found that it was a rare person who did not have such feelings towards the street where she had raised her girls.

Coronation Street was special.

"Have you been down to see number thirteen yet?" She asked tentatively. She had lived there nearly twenty years herself and she had enjoyed it but she knew she had not loved it as the women in front of her had.

"Aye, I have." she said with a sad smile. She did not need to say anything else. And there were no words for her.

"I am so sorry, Hilda. I know what it meant to you, that house."

"Love you are right. It did mean a hell of as lot to me and it is always going too. It were where all my memories were but from what I hear there are some people on this here street who have lost a hell of a lot more than a house, haven't they? Is it right that there were three dead?"

"Yup but in one of those cases, I think we should be saying good riddance to bad rubbish rather than mourning her," said Rosie from where she was sitting. She knew what her mum was like and she knew she was going to want her to make a good impression but when it came to Molly Dobbs, she did not care what she said any more. Every one said you were not meant to speak ill of the dead but there was nothing in the world that was good about her from what she could see any more.

"Rosie." said Sally. She had to say she agreed but they did not have to say it out loud. As frustrating as it was, she had gone and she had taken so many things she had needed to know to her grave; they were just going to live with that.

Hilda sadly smiled. She had thought she was the elder of the two girls.

If she had not seen either of them then at least she and Sally had already written a Christmas card to one another and had exchanged a phone call whenever something big had happened to one of them. They had never completely been out of contact. She had always known what Sophie and Rosie were up to from afar.

"Well, it is true mum!" the other brunette said to her confirming that she had to be Sophie. She was not sure who the blonde was most likely one of the girl's friends and she was sure she was a lovely girl. "Who is really going to mourn her now?"

"Poor Tyrone is going too," She said and she only then realised from moment she had sat down she had not let go of Hilda's hand and in a weird way she felt comforted so easily by her touch. It was like having her mum back.

She was a link to the past she had missed. She had been there when they had been so young and she had been the mother to her that her own could never have been.

"And dad might." Said Rosie with a roll of her eyes.

"Where is Kevin?" said Hilda enquiring after her old lodger. She had cared for the boy; not in the same way she had cared for her Eddie as he had been such a link to Stan for her, which Kevin could not be, but he had always been such a good lad.

"Right, first thing is first, before we get in to this. Girls, this is Hilda Ogden. She was the women me and dad lived with just before we were wed and she really helped us out. Hilda. As I am sure you have gathered these are my girls Rosie and Sophie and this is Sophie's – friend – Sian. "

Knowing that it might all be a bit much for the older lady to take in and too much effort to Sally to explain their situation yet, she skirted about it – besides, they had no idea she was of a much older school than them.

The four of them nodded there hellos. Sally turned back to Hilda. "This is going to be one hell of a story. Maybe we should go back to ours." She said as they downed there drinks.

"Not a bad idea pet if it is that bad. Besides I wonder if I might make a phone call at your house?"

"Of course, you can. Hilda, I can't believe you here! "

"Neither can I chuck, can I." For the first time since she had got there she once more got the feeling she might just have done the right thing when she had come back.

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	5. Chapter 4

**Author Note: Chapter posted Thursday 9th December 2010, 50 years to the day since the first episode of the street aired. Happy 50th!**

**C****hapter 4**

Dawn had been pacing about the house when the phone at last rang. She knew she had said to her dad that she was going to wait for the phone to ring but she had been on the verge of going out to look for her Nan. It was getting dark early now, and she hated the idea of her grandmother being out there on her own. She was naturally relieved to hear Hilda on the other end of it.

"Nan, where are you? Dad is freaking out," said Dawn as sat down saying nothing of her own distress. She had not thought she was ever going to be as pleased as she was at that moment to hear the shrill voice of her grandmother.

"I knew he would be my darling but this is something I had to do on my own, chuck."

"Well, where are you?"

"Home."

"Nan, I am at home – where are you?"

Hilda rolled her eyes. When Dawn had been a kid she had been so good at thinking out of the box, or so she liked to think. She had been a bit arty in fact. A good drawer - and a big dreamer. But so much about the girl and changed since she had lost her mum and Hilda got the sense something of her had died when they had buried her mum.

Or at least it had got lost.

"I am back in Weatherfield my darling."

"Weatherfield. Isn't that where you lived with dad and granddad Stan?" asked Dawn.

"That it is, my love. Tell your dad I am ok and I am going to be staying with Sally Webster for the night. I am going to be back some time tomorrow, ok?"

"Ok,"

"Tell your dad to call off the search party, right chuck?"

"Ok Nan. Love you."

"I love you as well. Night, night."

"Bye."

As she put down the phone, Dawn felt much better than she had before she had answered it. Her Nan had been there always since she had been a kid and she had a feeling she would hate life without her.

Not that she could hate life any more at that moment.

She put her head in her hands and she sighed. She had used to love it when she had been a kid when she had thought it was going to be herself, her mum and her dad against the world; the three of them with Hilda no matter what. Then it had all changed so much so fast and she had had no time to tell anyone she was not ready for what was coming for she had not been. Though, she did not think however much time she had had to prepare too lose her mum she was going to be ready for it.

She had been rotten to her dad since they had lost her and she knew it. It was not as if she had meant to be but she just knew he had his own stuff to deal with and she did not want to add to what he was going through any more.

Hilda might be going a bit deaf but Dawn was not; she heard her dad at night when he cried for her mum. And there was not a thing in the world she was ever going to be able to do to bring her back for him.

There was just nothing she could do and nothing was ever going to be the same for them again, no matter how much she wanted to crawl back in to the past.

Knowing if she did not snap out of her thoughts soon then she was going to break down for the millionth time that year she picked up the phone and she called Eddie telling him to come home.

Having found three cottage pies in the oven she put two in the oven and shoved the other back where she had found it knowing that Hilda was not going to be eating with them that night.

And she was nervous over it. Her dad and herself had not been on there own in such a long time and she did not like the thought of it much.

They were similar thoughts to what was going on in her dads head as he drove back to the house, only he had to say he was looking forward to it just being the two of them. He liked the idea of having her to himself for a while with no where one to interrupt them. Maybe it was what the pair of them needed. Maybe he might just be able to break through to her.

She had been her mum's girl ever since she had been born and he had loved to see the two of them together when she had been a kid. Dawn and Marion had always been and were always going to be as far as he was concerned the two people he loved most in the world; so to see them together at the end of the day had always warmed his heart.

Had he been jealous? He guessed in some ways he had been. When Dawn had fallen down and she was crying, she would near always by pass him to get to the comfort of her mums arms rather than let him pick her up and give her a cuddle and the times when he had were relatively few. He had hated her running past him as if he wasn't there...

But he had always been able to calm her when she had let him and when they had had the odd day on their own he had treasured it.

Even if she had been a mummy's girl she had been a tom boy as well and he had taken great delight on rainy Sunday mornings when he had had to stand on the side lines and watch her kick a ball around.

Taking her to football had been his job and Marion had never tried to get involved in it. He had guessed she knew she did a lot more practically with dawn than he did and she had not wanted to interrupt them when they had been having there time together, much in the way he never tried to get in the way of the time she had had with their child.

She had been kind and thoughtful like that.

And when he had got in they had both given him a kiss. And he did not think he had ever felt side lined in his own home.

He guessed he had a bit of Stan about him and he had just accepted that mother and daughter should be that close without questioning it and he had been happy for his wife to be so hands on. It had meant he had been able to sneak off for a cheeky pint at the end of the working day on a Friday. He did not think he had been much missed as when he had got in he had always found the two of them on the sofa watching some TV or a film. And when he had got changed and sorted he had sat with them and they had been a happy family for the most part.

But now he wished he had been a bit more hands on with her so that he might be able to read her moods better as god only knew he seemed to be useless at it.

She so needed him to be a good dad and he had always tried to be – he just did not think he was really succeeding very well at that moment and they were both suffering for it at the end of the day.

And she had been through so much already.

Pulling up on the drive, he pulled the hand break on.

Even if he was not the best dad in the world then he knew he was going to do his best for her. He would at least try.

\/\/\/

Hilda put the phone down and she had to say she was glad it had been Dawn and not Eddie she had had to speak to because she did not think he was going to be quite so warm with her at that precise moment.

Had some one done what she had to them to her than she knew she would be fuming. Her only hope that was when he had learned what had gone on and why she had gone back to their old home that he would understand.

Turning to the three girls and the women she sighed. "They are going to be ok," She said as she sat down. When she had got back to the house she had known she was going to have to give them a brief amount of what had been going on in her life since she had left the street and Sally had been rather shocked to learn she had not told anyone where she was going that day.

"And they are going to come and get you in the morning? I can't think they were very happy about you getting the train up on your own, Hilda."

"Sally, I would love it if you would stop talking about me as if I am some frail old women. I am not past it yet and I promise you and am perfectly capable of getting the train to Weatherfield on my own," She said with a teasing glint in her eyes.

Sally had forgotten how stubborn she could when she thought she was right.

And maybe she had been. Either way she was so glad to see her she was glad she had come.

"You're sad over what ever has gone on so you had better tell me."

Sitting down at the table with Hilda and the girls about her, the tea pot brewing in the middle of them Sally tried to think of where on earth she was meant to start on it all.

"There first thing you want to know if where Kevin is right?" she asked and Hilda nodded. "Well, at the moment, he is staying at the our friends because the way I am feeling at the moment, I am not going to have him in the house and before you even try, don't think there is any thing anyone can say to change that feeling."

Hilda had always taken her own vows so seriously that she knew she was going to try and talk her in to taking her husband back. Even though she had not met Stan, Hilda had struck her as the sort of wife that would forgive his indiscretions in the end. No matter what he had done and she knew she always had. Yes, he had taken her for a mug at times but he had been her man and that had been permanent in her life.

He had been her solid grounding.

"Love, until I know what he has done, I can't talk you into anything - I can't help you." She said as she took her hand.

Sophie and Rosie were struck by the bond that had been between the two women and how easy it had been for it to be rekindled. They knew their grandmother had never been a lot of use to her and that was why she had had to turn to people like Rita to be her mum ever since she had been living on the street. She seemed happier with it that way. It had just been over twenty years since the Hilda and Sally had been together but they had seemed to slot right back in with one another.

It was good and touching to see.

"Kev has had an affair and a child with anther women."

Hilda had to say she had been expecting her to say he had had an affair, but a child? This did change the whole ball game for them both.

Had Stan had a child with another woman she did not know if she would have been strong enough to forgive that? Child bearing for a man was surely the honour and duty of the wife alone. Stan had gone to clubs and he had had fallen women falling all over him from time to time but she was sure she had been the only women fool enough to give him a baby. In fact she knew she was. She didn't even doubt it a little.

She had no idea what Sally had to be going through as no matter what her husband had done to her he had never done that and he would not have. He had had some morals even if they had not been very good ones always.

"I do not know what to say or how to help you love. Have you spoken to him?"

God only knew that she herself was going to be having words with that fool of a man.

"No, I do not think I am ready for that yet and I don't know when I am going to be for a while. I am the first to admit to the fact that the pair of us have had our bad times but for the love of me, I don't know how I am going to get past this one, Hilda. I just don't know if there is going to be a way back for the pair of us."

Hilda wanted to be to promise the girl more than anything that there _was_ indeed going to be a way back for them.

Once she had got passed her prejudice she had always seen that the pair of them were meant to be together and she stood by that.

They had been so young when they had met and they had been sweet hearts. They had to be together.

Not knowing what else to do she put her hand over Sally's and patted it, while she looked sadly at the three girls. For once she was lost for words.

\/\/\/

Dinner was a quiet affair. In fact, Eddie thought he and his daughter might as well have been eating on their own for all the company they were being for one another in the end. His attempt to make conversation had failed spectacularly.

"Done," she, as she put down his knife and fork down having cleared his plate. It did not escape his notice that she had not touched so much as half of her dinner that night once more. He did not recall the last time she had eaten all of her dinner and it might just be his eyes but he thought she was far too thin. She had lost a lot of weight – since, well, since it had happened and they had lost her mum.

"Aye, lass and it were grand. You're a good little cook – I reckon you get it from your Nan meself." He said to her with a smile.

"Dad, I put it in the over and I turned it on." She said with a shrug.

"Well all the same, pet – thanks."

She knew he was doing his best but she – she didn't want to let him in over the way she was feeling. She couldn't talk to him.

"I have got an essay due in next week. I am going to go and getting cracking on it," she explained looking forward to getting back to the sanctuary that was her room sat that moment.

She made for the door leaving her bemused father in her wake wondering how on earth he was going to bring her back out of her shell. He had never had to come up against such intense grief before. He just had never thought it was going to cut them off from one another so utterly.

"Essay my eye, our kid." He muttered to himself as he was left with his beer at the table wondering where they were going to go from there. He had lost his wife but he was beginning to realise he had lost his little girl as well.

/\/\/\

"So are you going to stay for a while?" said Sally to Hilda hopefully. She had not looked for her return but now she was there she was beginning to remember how well they had got on. It had not been a perfect relationship but then she did not know if there was a perfect relationship whether it was between two lovers or between a pair of friends or a parents and their child for that matter. You could only ever do your best, couldn't you?

And if that year had taught her anything then it was that all any person could do at any one time _was_ there best. And if after it all, then they could put their hand on their heart and swear that they had, if everything still went wrong then so be it...

Some things were just not meant to be.

But she had poured her heart out to Hilda. And she wanted her to be there for her now she had come home. Weatherfield was her home. She should be there holding court in the Rovers at the end of the day and nowhere else.

"I don't know, pet – I think I should go home if I am honest. Eddie and Dawn need me more than ever before now that they do not have Marion about," she sighed as she brought another mug of tea to her lips. The three girls had left the two of them too it.

"Are they so bad?" asked Sally with great concern. Since she had got there she had said so much about herself that she had barely asked Hilda how her life was going.

"Eddie has had a hard time but he is bearing up a lot better than I thought he would when he got the news. I had thought he was going to go to pieces and not get back up. He had always seemed so in love with her I thought. But, no, it is Dawn who is really worrying me. I think it is hard on a girl whenever she loses her mum but she is just not coming to terms with it at all." Sighed Hilda.

"How old is she?"

"Twenty one... but she is a very young twenty one if you take my meaning. That was Eddie and Marion's doing. Whatever was going on about them they always made sure to protect her from it and now I have to question how much good it did the girl," Hilda mused out loud. "I can't help thinking that kids don't stay kids long enough today but she did... and now when she has had to come up against the real world all the lass wants to do is run and hide from it."

"You know, when I thought of how my girls would have coped last year if I had to go away from them – I did not know how,_ if_ they were to cope. I know at twenty one you're meant to be grown up but I know I wasn't. I was still such a kid and I got scared. I bet she is as well."

"Well, when I was twenty one, I had been wed to my Stan two years but I have to say I agree with you. Times have changed and thank god for it cause I don't know if the way we were raised was right or not. I know I didn't get as many hugs as Dawn has had over the years." She paused as she tried to arrange her thoughts. "I did not have much of a teenage hood but that was because times were so hard and we had a war to contend with as well. I wouldn't want that for any of the girls – not for your two or my Dawn. But I do wish there was a way I could get her to face up to what was going on. Her moping wouldn't have gone on when we were kids."

"She has lost her mum – I don't think she is exactly moping. She is just hurting, isn't she?"

Hilda nodded. It had been a bad choice of word and she knew but it was the way she felt. The girl just had to snap of the way she was going about things for her dad's sake as much as any ones. She knew if she had lost her mum then she would have had to take care of her dad and she would have got on with it.

But then she was not Dawn. And Dawn wasn't her.

She did love the girl – but you didn't always have to like every aspect of those that you loved. And she could not say that she liked the way Dawn was coping with Marion's death when she didn't. But maybe it was the only way she knew how too.

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	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

When Eddie got up, one of the first things he did was ring the Webster knows Hilda was going to be up. After a brief lecture about going off as she had (which he knew she had taken not a blind bit of notice of) he had insisted he would go and get her – he too wanted to go back and see how bad the damage was himself as well. He missed Weatherfield.

A quick wash and shave later, he went in search of some breakfast.

"You don't have to go in to college today love?" said Eddie as he came down the stairs to find his daughter in her pyjamas. She shook her head.

"A study day."

"Do you have a lot to do?"

"A fair bit but I can put it off if you need me to do something for you," She said to him.

"Good, cause I am afraid I do – I need you to give me a bit of company when I go and get your Nan. It is going to be a four hour round trip and I am not quite sure I want to do it on my own, love."

The thought of being in a car with him for four hours at that moment horrified her and he knew it but that was part of the reason he had made the suggestion. The two of them had to get past this and he had to show her he was not going to give up on them. He was going to keep pushing through on till he got her back the way she had been when she had been a kid.

"Come on, Dawn, please for me. It is going to be just like old times when we went to the big football tournaments in Manchester."

She didn't know. It had been a long time since she had been the kid he had driven to the games and she did not think either of them had ever been more painfully aware of that fact than at that moment.

But she did not have so much work that she couldn't go with him. And she had said if he needed her that she would do something for him.

"Ok." She said with a nod and he gave her a smile.

"Great stuff, kiddo, I can show you about where I lived with your Nan and granddad before I met yer mam." He said.

He had wondered if when he mentioned his wife he had done the right thing but she had a small smile on her face.

"Sounds as if you had some great times when you lived with them."

"Aye, I did. They were the happiest years of me life except the ones I had with you and your mum and the ones we are going to have together – well, in the future." He said knowing it was still far too soon for them to be talking too much.

"I wish I could remember granddad – that I'd met him."

"I know, me, too." he said to her, glad for the common ground.

When he thought back on his child hood he could not say it had been very happy. Of course, his mum had done his best like but he had never got the chance to me his dad because he had died in the war. They had never had much and... well, he knew the pressure had got to her at times.

No, the first time he had ever felt as if he had been someone's son rather than a burden had been when he had got to the Ogden's. They had not had a lot more than his mum when he had been a kid had but he had been able to help out with housekeeping. And though he had not been their responsibility, they had made him so.

Stan had been his dad and his best mate all at once.

And even though he knew he would be no good at that moment he wished he had been there for him.

"Well, come on this is doing neither of us any good. I am going to go and get dressed." She said as she took her brew up to her room. "Then to Weatherfield."

/\/\/\

Hilda was up with the dawn and she was dressed before any of the others had stirred. Sitting in the kitchen of number four she tried to digest the news she had been given the day before. She did not know what to say yet but the one thing that was for sure, when she saw Kevin she was going to give him what for.

She wasn't alone for long.

"I found myself a bit of breakfast when I got up – hope you don't mind pet." Said Hilda to Sally.

"Of course, I don't. Treat this place as if it were number 13. The same way you let me and Kev."

"Talk of the devil, I am going to go and see him now and give him a piece off my mind."

"It is a bit early in the morning for all of that Hilda." Said Sally with a sad smile. She had to say she was glad she had her there to talk too. "Why don't we have a cup of tea and then we can go into town for a bit." She said to her. "Do you know what time your Eddie is going to be here? Or have you decided to stay on for a few days like I asked you too. Please do."

"Well, I did ring home and tell our Dawn to bring us some clothes. I can't say I am looking forward to seeing Eddie. I think he is going to make me feel like a naughty school girl." she laughed. "I should not think he is going to be here before lunch and it sounded as if Dawn is going to come with him, or he is going to try and get her too. Can't think that is going to be very comfortable."

Sally reminded quiet. They were both going through a weird and difficult stage in their lives and Hilda had hoped she had been passed that, but apparently not.

"Come on, let's go out and Do something while you're here," Sally said as she opened the fridge. "Did the girls use the last of the milk? This is so typical of them three at the moment. Most of the time all three of them are considerate but they can be right little madams the lot of them…"

"Well, why don't I walk down to – oh."

Knowing she had been about to say she was going to go down to the corner shop, Sally sighed. "I forget as well – though how I don't know. I think what happened to the street with that tram is going to be haunting us all for a long time to come. Which is why we need to get out of this street." she said with a smile.

She was going to take her to the shops whether she liked it or not.

She had a feeling they both needed cheering up and spending some of her hard earned money was the way to do it she thought, not that it was going to bring Kevin back to her or make him a loyal husband.

But she knew she was yet to decide if she wanted him back.

And if she did then a voice in her head said she needed it testing.

\/\/\/

With the adults out and Rosie over at Jason's, Sian and Sophie lay on the sofa huddle together.

It had been an awful few days for Sophie and Sian was only too happy to be there for her. After all, she was her girlfriend. She was meant to be there for her.

And it was so hard to be intimate when everyone else was in the house.

They had put a film on but Sian knew Sophie did not care about it or was likely not going to that day. She had a lot bigger things on her mind with her mum and dad and she could feel she was not really relaxed.

"You know if you want to talk about it then we can." She said gently as she hugged her.

Sophie shook her head. She felt as if she had been there with her mum and dad one too many times and now she was wondering what there was left to say.

She was also beginning to wondered why Sian and she had come home; they had been happy when they had been away just the two of them - ok, so they had not been doing cart wells but there had been a few good times and she knew she had had her safe loving family to come back to when the time was right.

And now her dad had just taken it all away from them all over again.

She wondered if the three of them had ever meant anything to her dad. He had said enough times they were his world but she did not have the strength to believe it anymore...every time she did, he did a U turn and he would take them all away from one another again or her mum would. She wondered what it was like to live in a nice normal family.

She turned and she looked at Sian. She did the only thing she still could and that was to burst into tears.

"Oh babe," said Sian as she took her tighter in her arms. It was just another challenge they were going to have to overcome.

But overcome it they would. Because they always did...

\/\/\/

It had been a quiet car ride but at least Eddie had got his daughter in the same air space for more than five minutes. And yet after he had asked about collage and she had fobbed him off with her answers, for he knew that was what she was doing, they had gone back to their silence and he found it unbearable.

Neither of them had reached for the button that would put on the radio though. Both of them had loved music when she had been about but with Marion gone there was not a single part of their lives which had not been affected. Songs... lyrics... it was too much. Too raw...

He had asked her to come because he had wanted to spend the time with her but now they were there and they were driving along, he had no idea how to put what he was thinking in to words. He had said it all already he felt and so he just let her sit there looking out of the windows.

Frustration welled up in him though and there was only one thought in his mind. He had lost his wife. Why was he being robbed of his child as well? Had he not lost enough?

/\/\/\

"Nan said it be a bit of a shock when we get in to the street," said Dawn as they approached Coronation Street. When they had spoke on the phone that morning her Nan had confided in her the reason why she had gone back to her old home. Dawn had to say it seemed mad to her but there they were.

She was never going to understand why she had felt she had had to go back though. Not when it was such a mess.

As for Eddie, as he got nearer the place he had been so happy to call his home, he felt the anticipation rise in him. It had been the first time he had been excited in a long time. Despite the crash, despite everything he was happy to be on his way back – back home.

His daughter had said it was going to be a bit of a mess but he did not think he minded once. He had never wanted to go to Bury he thought to himself. If the two of them, Marion and he, had moved in to number 11 and raised their daughter there as they had said they were going too initially he did not think there was a thing in the world that could have pleased him more. And his wife would never have met...

But as soon as he saw the devastation a fresh grief rose within him. As he turned on to the street, at once his thoughts became not happy but bitter sweet.

It was in a real state

"Oh my god."

He slammed on the brakes in his shook and his daughter turned to see how instantly paler he had become. She felt a wave of compassion for her dad. No matter what she had said she did not think she could have said enough to get him ready for what was before them but still...

Just the sight of it brought tears to her eyes as well and she had no memories there, so it had to be ten times harder for him didn't it?

"Oh dad, I am so sorry," she said as she took his hand. She had to be there for him then and because she was so far removed from it she felt she could be.

He had to know she was there.

"I – I – Dawny, look at it all!" he said as he reached out for her. In his own grief for his home, he had forgotten all that had gone on between the two of them and it was clear he just wanted her to hug him.

How could she deny him?

"Oh dad, I am so sorry," she said as she curled into him and felt the tears trickle down her face at the sight of the rubble and the carnage.

Number thirteen had crumbled to dust.

It had all gone to dust.

\/\/\/

Hilda was glad Sally and talked her into going out for a while. Had she not then she knew she would have been curtain twitching but not for gossip as she had done in the old days, but to look at the house that had once been her home.

How did a home just go like that? Why had she been given no warning and why had those poor people who had died been given none either - a young mum as well as a young dad. They had heard that the Rovers Return pot man had given up his life as well just then and Sally seemed fairly shaken by it, as he had worked with her at the factory as well.

The poor man. Hopefully he was at peace now.

Now all she could do was wait for Eddie and Dawn to arrive.

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	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

When they got into number four, it was a sheepish Hilda who greeted her surrogate son and grandchild. She had never done anything like this in the time they had known one another and lived together and even though she knew Eddie could see why she had done it, she did not think that made a blind bit of difference to him – or, at least it hadn't before she had rung home.

"Please don't ever do that to me again," said the scouse as soon as he saw her. He had been scared half to death when he had had no idea where she was. He knew when you were a dad you were meant to worry; but it was your kids, not your mum you were meant to worry over wasn't it?

"Well, chuck, if you had ever done it to me then I know I would have wanted to kill you so I am sorry for it – but then I don't think I was quite thinking right when I had heard what happened to the street." The acknowledgement of how much it had shaken her up had not been needed.

"Yeah well as long as neither of us do it in the future then we are not going to have any problems are we?" he said as he went over and kissed her cheek.

"Tell you what though, Nan it was nice not to be the one in trouble for a change," said Dawn with a cheeky grin as they hugged.

Dawn had been shocked by how much she had missed having her in the house when she had not been the right before. It was hardly surprising with all the other changes she had been through lately, Hilda had been a constant in her life ever since she had moved in with them five years ago. She had been able to count on one of her hands the amount of times she had slept out.

"I should think you were chuck," said Hilda as she embraced her back, slightly shocked by the affection she was showing her.

"Why don't I put the kettle on? I am sure the two of you could do with a brew," said Sally to them pair of them as Dawn remained at her grandma's side once they had pulled away from one another.

"Don't suppose you could lace mine with something a bit stronger could you?" said Eddie as he struggled to get the image of the destroyed street out of his eyes.

He wished he had been the first one to read that damned paper. He would not have let Hilda see it for one thing and then he would have had his happy memories - not only of Marion and Stan and the time he had had with them in his street but of everyone else he had met when he had there such as Bet.

It might early for a drink but god only knew he needed it and Sally saw it all over his face. Every time she had looked down the road she was reminded of what had gone on. The devastation of the crash in a weird way was the only thing that was keeping her on her feet as she was reminded all the time of the fact there were a lot worse things going on in the world than her losing her husband. He was at least, alive. Though she wondered if she would have preferred it if...

She nodded. "Of course, I can. It must have been shock for you to see what has gone on!"

He nodded. "It was that - Hilda why did you want to come back to see a thing like this?" he said as he sat down. He knew he should try and understand but he just did not get her thinking of this one and he did not think he was going to.

He was not even sure he wanted too.

"Even I don't really know why," she admitted to him knowing that answer was going to give him no satisfaction. "I just had too."

"Well, I sure as hell didn't," he said sharply as he tried to take in what had happened.

"Dad..." said Dawn sympathetically to him but what he heard was what she had not said – that he would not upset her Nan. And he knew she was right but it had been so much of a shook.

"Listen, I know it is early yet but why don't we all just scrap the tea and head over to the Rovers? We all need a drink by the looks of it." He needed a proper one.

As Sally looked at Eddie, she thought he did not look a lot like she had thought he was going too. She had heard a lot about him over the years but she had never actually seen him before. He was older than she had thought. But then maybe that had just been the effect of losing his wife.

"I think that is great idea."

It had been years since he had gone to his old local and he missed it. He had had some good times there. Not that he thought any one was going to be up for much of a knees up but they might as well go for a swift one before they headed back to Bury.

\/\/\/

Rita Sullivan was just about feeling like she was getting back to her old self as she walked down to the pub. She knew the shock was going to take a lot longer to wear off but she had had to get out of the house what with Norris' mothering. She knew she was lucky to have a friend like Emily but she did despair of _him_ at times.

She kept her eyes down. She had always believed at facing her troubles head on but the fact was that every life on the street had been changed but what had gone on and she did not feel as if she was ready to face the carnage yet.

It was all too much.

Not only did she have to worry about the affects of the crash and the grief she knew many of her friends were feeling, she also had heard she had to worry for Sally and Kevin again.

How had he been such a fool as to throw his marriage again when the pair of them had had to work so hard to get it back after the first time he had cheated?

She was never going to understand.

But then she had come to terms with the fact that her Len had had an affair and if she could then she knew she would have him back like a shot – especially just then. It had been a long time since a bed had felt as big as it had the night before.

No, she had longed for him and for Ted the night before to tell her it was going to be ok. And if Sally was feeling as she was then she was going to want Kev to be at home with her and the girls where he belonged.

But then events such as these did not always tell you who and what was really important to you but to grasp each day for all it was worth. And so maybe it was going to give her the courage to break away from her childhood sweetheart. And if that was the case, then so be it.

It did not have to be the end of the world for Sally if they did break up. It might give her a new lease of life and it was not as if the girls were kid any more.

After everything she had been through maybe being on her own for while was what she needed even if she did not want to admit it to herself or anyone else.

She was so glad when she did get too the Rovers Return for it was a cold day out and she knew she was not as young as she had been when she had got to the street all those years before hand, not that she was going to be confessing it to anyone.

She opened up the door to see it was Jim and Steve who were manning the bar that day and Amy was with them. No doubt since everything that had gone on their reaction had been to pull together as a family and for the McDonalds that could only be a good thing.

She could not take to Owen for one reason or another and she had always sensed that Liz and Jim were meant to be a pair.

Oh, they were very much like Sally and Kevin - they had given it more than one shot. But then that showed a lot of willing and guts didn't it?

If at first you don't succeed at first, try and try again. And if then you don't succeed...

"A large sherry please Jim."

"How about you Rita," he said with half a smile. As one of the publicans he knew he had to try and keep some of the morale going around there and it did not seem to be too hard. In spite of the fact a lot of them had not been about in the war, a kind of blitz spirit was taking over the street.

"I am bearing up thank you, Jim. How are your lot?"

"A bit shaken up by it all what with yer man Sean passing on and all but I think we are going to be ok."

Days had passed since the tram crash but the ramifications had never been felt with such force.

"I don't think a lot of people up and down this street are going to have a lot of time for Christmas cheer this year when the time comes."

"Maybe not."

It seemed incredible that time was still going on as if nothing had happened and she knew there were a few people who would like to give time what for... How could it be so disrespectful just to move on when it had caused so much hurt?

There was no rhyme or reason to it.

There was never going to be and the fact the world moved on after a tragedy was always so cruel.

"Life is going to go on." Jim voiced her thoughts and she nodded. She was glad he was back and she did not quite know why.

She had been about to go and sit on a table on her own when she saw something out of the corner of her eye. Sally.

Oh, her poor girl. She had felt as if she had been her mum for such a long time now. She knew there had been plenty of women who had taken her under her wing since she had got there. But especially when she had been young, she had been as a daughter to her and whenever she had needed help with the two girls she had been there for them and she thought of as her grandkids.

Sally had a soft smile on her face. A sad one but a smile none the less. She seemed to be bearing up a lot better than she had thought she was going too.

"Oh Rita," she said as she saw her.

Sally got up and she through her arms about her. They had had hardly five minutes together since the crash and she felt closer to her than she had in years because of all the help the redhead had given her over Sophie and Sian. She knew had it not been for her then she would have handled the situation very differently and she had done that clumsily enough as it was.

The last thing she would ever want to do was drive the girls away and she felt she was going to be able to comes to terms with it. She knew a big part of that was down to Rita even if she had not words the words to tell Hilda yet.

But she would. And she was glad she had such a mature daughter as to know she had a lot bigger fish to fry at that moment.

"I am so sorry love," she said as she held her.

"Me too but I am in good hands." she said as she pulled back and showed Rita who was in the booth.

"Oh my word – well as I live and breathe – oh Hilda – and Eddie too!" she with a smile on her face.

"How are you Rita?" he said as he raised his pint to her.

It had been a long time since she had seen ether of then on this street and she had not thought she was going too ever again. She guessed, like Sally, she had thought they were going to be gone for good – and just like her, she was glad it was not the case.

She did not know why the faces from her past cheered her so much - it was not as if she had been very close to either of them when they had lived there – but it was the feeling that some things did stay the same no matter what at that moment which made the difference to her and well – she felt the tears well up in her eyes.

After all these years, it looked as if Hilda and Eddie were still the best of pals and well, it meant a lot.

"Oh I am just a big old ball bag at the moment!" she said as the women as Hilda got up to greet her and she found she was not the only one who was near tears.

It seemed Hilda was touched by the warm welcome she had to from her old friend and they both recalled that when Hilda had left it had been the two of them who had lead the rest of the pub in 'wish me luck as you wave me good bye'. And on the night Hilda had had her ruby wedding anniversary, it had been Rita who had sung to her and Stan 'we've been together for forty years'.

Every place in the street for her was haunted by his memory. And she loved it. It had been a long time since she had felt so close to her Stan.

There was not a thing about their time there which did not lead back to him for her.

"You are not the only one."

Dawn did not recall it if she had ever seen her grandmother so emotional before. But the way she had been since she had got there was so lovely. It seemed to her she had been missed by many people on the street.

She had done the right thing when she had come back. Dawn knew she had.

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	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

The rain splashed down on the motor way furiously as the car, only carrying two passengers, made its way home.

"I cannot believe she decided to stay up there with the street as it is." Said Eddie as he and his daughter drove home. He had said to Hilda that he wanted her to go back to their home with them but she had said she was home and Sally was more than happy and had practically begged her to stay. She had been only too happy to do so. He had no choice in the end but to leave her in Weatherfield.

He did not remember the last time he had thought of the street before it had all happened. Oh, yes he had looked back on the Stanley and Hilda and the time they had had as a little family fondly a lot of them time but he had not thought about the house or the street as she clearly had. It had always been nothing but a back drop for the people to him.

But suddenly, it felt as if he had lost a friend.

Not what he needed to feel as he tried to get over his wife.

"She is doing what she has to do, dad." Said Dawn. Once more as they rode home she taken to looking out of the window than at him.

For her the day had had been a bit of a history lesson. The history of her family and where she had come from. When they had been on the street, she had been intensely aware of the fact her dad had been living there when he had met her mum and that was the last place her Nan and her granddad had been together. She would have loved to own a time machine and go back to the decades before had when they had all walked the cobbles together.

She was interesting in where she come from and she knew it maybe not seem like it to him but she did value there family...What was left of it...

And she wished her Nan had come back with them to of only for them to be all together. But then she did understand why she was doing what she was doing. She did not know how but she did.

"So we go all the way up there..."

"- to see her and make her happy. Sometimes it is the things you need to be close to rather than the people." She explained before realizing she had put her foot in it.

He felt his stomach drop.

"Dad I didn't mean ..."

"Yes, you did Dawny. You did. "

\/\/\/

"Well the two of them did not seem so bad." Said Sally as she brought two wines through to the living room. The three girls and Jason had gone into town to get a pizza. She got the feeling they had had to escape the street for a bit. "Dawn is a lovely girl."

"Eddie and Marion did do a good job with her, I will give them both that – she turned out a lot better than any of mine and Stan's did but then that was never going to be hard and it is not much of a standard to test against. And you're right, she is a good girl. But you only saw half of her. She is holding back so much and is destroying part of her dad. It is not fair."

Even if she had not brought her kids up to the highest standard she had always had high standards for herself and she did in part she guess expect her granddaughter to match up to them. But that was only because she loved her so much. Maybe more than she had loved her own daughters... she was a lot closer to her than she had been to Irma.

"But Dawn for now is not my main problem, you and your girls are. Anyhow, it may be the case that Eddie and her need me out of the way to work through what they have been going through - or at least, that is what I am praying for because if it does not work then I am well and truly out of ideas."

"Maybe she just needs time."

"And if I was not so worried about her father, then I would be happy to leave her to it but he needs his daughter to be there for him. She is not a little girl anymore."

Sally was going to contradict her but she thought better of it. It was not as if she knew enough about it to comment and she had rather lost her taste for gossip of late. She always did when she knew people were also gossiping about her outside of her door.

"Now, I am going to go and see Kevin whether you want me to or not. Someone has to give that lad a good talking to."

"I am sure his dad would have had a word with him if that if what you are worrying over."

"My love, I am sure I told you when you were young that you should never send a man to do a women's job." Hilda shook her head. "You leave Kevin to me."

\/\/\/

A devastated Tyrone pushed the pram of his son up to the grave of his nana Vera and his granddad Jack. He did not know what he was going to do or what his life was about any more. He had had a son. And he had had a wife. And he had had a mum and a dad who had given a damn about him.

Now in the space of two months he had lost it all. He knew he had lost Vera lot earlier but he felt as if it had been the day before and he knew he was going to carry the wound of her and Jack's death green to his grave.

You just did not get over something like this. He did not even know how was meant to move on and he did not know what new as going to do over baby Jack. He knew he was not his child in the biological sense of the word but he had been with him since he had been born and he had been the one who had got up with him in the night - Kev had done none of those things.

And he had been named for Jack, the man he felt had raised him from being a boy to a man. And he had been the best dad in the world as far as he was concerned. He had been more of a dad to him than his sperm donor had been and he had been more of a son to him than Terry had ever been. So if he could keep that bound with baby Jack, then maybe the two of them could muddle through it all.

And he had to keep him so he knew it had been real. That he had been so happy once upon a time because that was how it felt that - as if it had all been so wonderful dream he had dreamed.

Maybe he was going to wake up in a minute to find out that he was still an eighteen year old with his mum in jail.

Or better he would wake up to find out Molly had not cheated on him.

Oh, that was what he wanted. More than anything, to wake up to find his wife was loyal and she had not cheated on him and she never would. That was the god send he needed.

Or just to hear the DNA results were wrong and little baby Jack was his son after all. That he felt might save him as well from the hell that was his life.

Because if that did not happen, then he knew Kevin was going to come for him at some point and then there was going to be no getting away from the fact his life was gone...

"Why aren't at least one of you here?" he said as he knelt down at the double plot where he had buried his parents. The tears he had kept inside came tumbling down his face. He did not know about Jack being the baby – he felt he was.

He wanted someone to come and hold him and tell him it was going to be ok no matter how bad things looked at that moment. But how was it ever going to be ok? He felt as if he was the only person in the world who had ever lost some one at that moment. As if no one else in the world could ever know how intense his grief was.

It did not matter that Sean and Ashley had lost there lives when that tram had come off of the viaduct. All that mattered was the fact he had lost Jack and he had lost Vera and he had lost Molly and he...

He did not know what he was meant to do with himself.

He had had a blessed life; it had been charmed for a time. But then if one aspect had been a lie, then maybe it had all been a lie. He wondered if Molly had ever felt something more than pity for him. Maybe that was why she had wed him.

It was the only thing that made sense to him at that moment. It was the only explanation for the way she had acted; they had not been a wed a year when she had begun her affair. And yet if he had the chance to take her back then and there he would. He missed her more than he had though he would when she had walked out of the door.

But more than her, he wanted Jack and Vera. They would rally about him and they would help him to come to terms with it all and they would help him figure out what to do. The two of them would know what to say and how to handle him. He knew it would not be easy for the pair of them but at least the three of them would be facing it together as they always had been and that would be enough.

He did not want to be on his own.

Looking in to the pram, he knew he was not. And he wondered if he was wrong to still love the little lad as his own. He knew if it were a film or a book then the only thing he would see as he looked at him would be Kevin or the bad side of Mol but when he looked into his face he saw the good in his wife and Jack - his own dad.

He had been so proud when the three of them had been together at the christening. He had felt so proud of the three of them. Three generations of the same family. And he knew he had made his dad proud of him. He had seen it in his eyes every time he had looked at him and every time he had held Jack in his arms or heard him call the baby his Puddleduck.

He had been so happy when he had heard Molly was pregnant because he had thought he was going to see a grandchild grow up and he had never had the chance to do that.

It had all been so good.

It had been too good to last.

\/\/\/

In the quiet house Bury, Dawn walked down the stairs. She knew she had so much to say to Eddie if only she could get the words out.

No matter what he thought, she had not meant what she had said in the car. Or at least she had but she had not wanted to apply it to the pair of them.

And she knew it may not seem like it but she did _want _to let him in as well. She had just forgotten how. Going into the living room to sit with him, she knew he had to come to the conclusion she had decided to go there under her own steam. Because she had.

She had to tell him the truth of why she could not get through to him or vice versa, but she was so scared she was going to lose him as well.

Had the two of them not lost enough over the past year?

Oh, she wished Hilda was there because then she was going to be able to go up to the room and put the telly on without feeling guilty he was on his own. She did not want him to be by himself. That was not right when he had just lost his wife and she knew her mum would want a lot more for the pair of them and she would want them to be close but –

Seeing he was ignoring the telly she went over and turned it off before going to his side.

"If I am hurting you more than you have been dad then I am sorry and I don't want that to be the case. I just – I don't know what to do right now and I know I am doing your head in; but I am doing mine as well, so you are not on your own on that score believe me."

He was glad she had the guts to be honest with him about what was going on in her mind at least. That was something.

And he knew they were going through the same thing with their grief – but she was right - Dawn had been doing his head in. But he was going to be damn if he let her know that.

For the first time he felt as if they were beginning to get somewhere. Especially after they had been to Weatherfield.

He put his arm about her. "That is ok my pet. I just want you to know when you are ready to come to me or you want to have a chat I am going to be here for you. You are my daughter and you mean the world to me. Always did ever since you were a baby."

Deciding to stop as he did not want to lay it on to thick he sighed. He did not want her to feel as if she had to back off again. That was the last thing in the world that he wanted.

As long as they got somewhere in the end he did not care.

But he did not know how much longer his patience was going to last.

\/\/\/

Kevin Webster in the days after the train crash woke up to find his life had been completely changed. No longer was he the respected father with a wonderful wife and two beautiful daughters but he found he had been out cast by the community and as of yet denied his son.

For all that he knew it was wrong in some ways, he could not help be glad he had a son. He had wanted him and Sally to have one when they had been young. He had been chuffed when they had the girls and he did love Sophie and Rosie with all his heart, even if it did not seem that way at that moment.

But when he had been with Alison and then the pair of them had lost Jake... well, he knew part of him wondered and had always wondered what that little lad would have grown in to and he guessed part of him had never got over losing that child.

So to know Jack was his did fill a small hole even if it had opened up a few large caverns as well.

He knew what he wanted from life and even if Mol was still alive then it wouldn't change.

He wanted Sally... he always had from the day he had splashed her when he was driving by.

But then he did not think that she was going to want to be with him. She had got strong over the last few years for she had had too but she had never suffered fools gladly even when they had been young. And he knew a fool was just what he was.

He had had it all and then he had to play with fire and he knew his place in his family was in the balance. If the girls weren't dumb, then they were not going to want him.

But he hoped they _were_ dumb...

But he had to focus on getting Jack as well. His mum was dead and he was his dad. Jack should be with him then and not Tyrone.

It was not as if he did not feel for the lad. He knew giving up Jack was going to be the hardest thing Tyrone had ever had to do and he had been having a rough time as it was, as he had lost so many he loved. But he was the baby's dad and no matter what anyone said he was going to try and do right by him. He had too... he was going to be a good dad to him as well. He was going to take him to football and he was going to teach the lad to drive when he was old enough.

They were going to be the best of friends and he was going to be the type of dad his own had been for him. He was going to be a friend and a confidant. If this was the only child he had the chance to do right by then he would...

The girls. He had not yet had the chance to speak to either of them even though he had left them both loads of messages. It seemed neither of them was ready to talk to him and he knew he had to respect that but he did not want too.

He just wanted to go and see the pair of them and say how sorry he was and then take them both in his arms and hug them. In spite of the fact that neither of them were big daddy's girls (if one of them was though, it was Sophie) he hoped he had always made them feel loved. He did adore the bones off of the pair of them. They were good lasses.

But then he knew they were not going to feel as if they were much loved, at that moment, because if they were then he would be unable to do something like this to them and their beloved Mum.

He did not know what he had been thinking when he had had the affair. He had had a good thing and he had known it. Ok, so he and Sally were never going to be the most exciting thing in the word but they were safe and good. And he had someone to grow old with. A partner for life.

When he thought of what they had been through over the years and how they had been since the cancer, it was as if they had not just been man and wife but also the best of friends.

A smile came over his face as he recalled the way they had been with one another that past, precious New Year. That night more than ever had reaffirmed the fact he was still in love with his wife. He had loved her so much and he still did.

And how he had lost her.

A knock on the door pulled him out of his thoughts. Dev and Sunita had gone to stay with a relative for a few days since the crash and that was why they had offered him the house. They had known he was not going to be let home after all.

Going over to it he opened it up and got the shock of his life.

"Hilda!"

He did not know whether she was happy to see him or not. But when she greeted him he was left in no doubt…

"You are a right chump Kevin," she said as she barged in and he was sure she had heard the rumours.

"I know that – you don't have to tell me that. How are you?"

"Never mind me – what kind of idiot or you?" she said furiously to him. All the anger she had felt since she had found out what had happened to her number thirteen was going to be let out on him. She had an excuse to have a go at him and she thought it was a damn good one. She maybe not have seen him for years but she had helped him start that family and she was going to be damned to hell if she just let them throw it all away because he could not keep it in his trousers. This was the sort of time when you needed an Ena Sharples, to tell it how it was but then she knew she had never had much of a problem doing that.

She had given both barrels to Stan when he had done wrong and she had told it how it was to Eddie enough times.

But today it was Kevin's turn.

"For the last few days, I have been living at number four with those poor broken hearted girls... what on god earth did you think you were doing when you went with that – _that_ Molly!" she said as she felt tears well in her eyes.

She had meant to be stern and give it some for Sal but when she was there her anger faded to disappointment.

When he had been had young, he had been so lovely and from the day he had moved in, she had a felt a bit safer about the house. She had not had that since she had lost her husband and Eddie had moved out. She had thought she was going to be on her own and he had been a relief to her. And she was the first to say Sally on her first impression had not been good enough for the lad she had then thought of as_ her_ Kevin. So to find out it had in fact been the other way round and he had been the one who had been good enough for her was quite a shock.

For Kevin, he was still trying to take it in that she had come back to the street. He like so many of the others had thought she was gone for good and that Mrs. Ogden would never return.

But she had always had a bit of a knack for proving people wrong.

And there and then, he found himself wishing she had not come back only to find out what a disappointment he had become to her and the rest of his family. Bill had indeed come over and he had told him what an idiot had been for hurting the girls. And of course he was right.

"Why did you do it?" She said and he shrugged. He knew it was only going to make her angrier but ...

"It was a moment of madness. When I realised Sally was ill, it stopped and I know the two of us are meant to be together with the girls though. But I am sure Sally has told you things are a bit more complicated – I have a son, Hilda. And I am going to do right by him no matter what."

"And what about doing right by Sally and the girls? What makes you think you are ever going to be able to do right by that poor motherless lad when you could do not do right by your own wife and daughters?"

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	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

The second week after the tram crash in Weatherfield was the most depressing it had ever seen. Three funerals; three lives gone to soon. And it brought back to the residents who had made it through that the life they had all lived before was gone and it was never going to return. The past was gone.

For no matter how much we wish them too people do not come back from the dead.

The last of the funerals was Molly's, and it was perhaps the least attending, so furious were many of the residents. Though the street may not have always been known for its high morals, there were some who felt that she had been wicked for what she had done and so not worth shedding tears for in the same way poor Ashley and Sean were. It was at times difficult not to think ill of the dead and this was one of them.

The vision of Claire weeping with her boys at her side was going to stick with a lot of people for a long time. She had not had an easy marriage but they had been left in no doubt of the fact that she had loved Ashley. The two of them had stuck at it no matter what. The two of them had just had a string of bad luck and to say, the least, that had been unfortunate. But they had loved one another... no one was in any doubt of that.

Sally however felt she had to go to Molly's funeral if only to put some ghosts to rest for herself. As soon as she had said she was going to go, the three girls had made it clear they were not going to follow suit for Rosie and Sophie were too angry with her for trying to take their dad away. Sally feared she had very nearly succeeded. And Sian was not going to go if Sophie was not, was she?

Thankfully, Hilda said she would at least go to the church with her. As she felt it was not right for her to go to a funeral when she had not known the women, (and she liked the girls blamed much of what happened to the Webster's marriage on her) she said while the service was going on she would tend Stan's grave.

It had been too long since she had paid him a visit.

"Are you sure you are going to be ok going in on your own?" she said as the two of them drove to the church.

"Don't worry about me, Hilda, I am going to be fine. And Rita is going to be in there for me so it is all going to be... well, I am going to have some on my side." She sighed.

She was glad she had her friends about her at a time such as this...

Hilda was so glad she had decided to stay in Weatherfield rather than go back to Bury and she was beginning to wonder why she had left to begin with. She knew the views she held were that or another generation. But part of her felt she had never been away.

This was her home; it always had been.

"I am going to be happy when today is over Hilda," said Sally. She knew it was a tragedy that Molly had died so young when she had had a son to look after but she had to look out for number one now. There was no one else to do it for her and she had to keep it together for the sake of her lovely girls. She was so glad she had them and she was going to hold on to the good things in her life no matter what. She had to for fear if she did not then she was going to fall apart.

She had a lot to be thankful for.

"I am not going to tell you that it is all going to be ok when it is over, for I do not know if it is, but maybe you will get a bit of peace out of this for yourself." Said the elder of them two women.

She was glad Hilda was being honest with her. When that day was over she knew it was not going to be as it had been a dream; she knew it was not going to give her husband back to her but at least then she could put Molly to rest in her own head.

She'd get passed it.

She was going to be dammed if it beat her when she had come so far...

The two of them looked at one another and they knew no other words were needed now. She just had to get in to the church and lay her demons to rest for her own sake. And it was for herself. It was not was not even the girls she was doing it for.

But there was one thing about that day she had to say she was worried about and that was the fact that she knew Kevin going to be there to say good bye to the women he had cheated on her with.

He had come to the house more than once to try to talk to her and she had not yet let him in for she felt she was unable to without breaking down and she was not going to let him see her cry for him. She had too much pride for that. At least, she had to give herself half a chance of holding it together when he came to her and they talked about what was going to happen.

She was so angry she was not ready to make a decision on where they were going to go from there but she did not want to say something she was going to later regret.

Taking one last look at herself before they got out of the car, Sally wondered when she had aged so much and if it was the fact that they were both beginning to get on in life which had made Kevin go for a younger model.

And then again the question of her going on the moral high ground crept in to her head.

She was not an angel of a wife and she never had been.

But this was not about what she had or what she had not done in the past. It was about what he had done in the here and now.

"Come on love they are going to go in soon," said Rita as she came to her side and Sally tried to give her a confident smile but the thing was she was not feeling confident wand she had not for quite some time now.

Ever since she learnt she had been betrayed she was beginning to think things were never going to be ok again.

But when she looked across the car park and she saw Tyrone she knew he was feeling a million times worst than she did. Where was that poor man meant to go from here?

For all her troubles, she was glad she had never had his.

"I am sorry it has h been so long, chuck," said Hilda as she knelt down by her husband's grave. Her knees were old but they were not so old that they were going to give way on her yet and she wanted to get some of the weeds out of where he lay. That was the one thing she had not thought of when she had considered moving away. That there was going to be no one there to tend his grave of a weekly basis. She knew she could have paid someone to do it but she had always been his carer and she wanted to be so in his death as she had been in his life.

She was not going to pay someone to do her on. She did not want anyone else to do it... Was that selfish? Well perhaps it was.

But when he had been alive even though he had gone off to her at Inkerman street, he had always come back to her and she knew at the end of the day, she had been the only one he had wanted to see when he had got home - or at least that had been what she had said to herself.

She wished he was there with her to be a comfort or just to listen as she went on. Between Eddie and Sally and Kevin she had not had a moment's peace of late.

It did not seem as if any of their troubles were going to come to a conclusion soon but she knew she had to remain strong for them all.

But who was going to be strong for her?

She was never going to fool herself what she had had with Stan was perfect. It had been far from it. But she recalled suddenly all the quiet evenings in she had had with him. There had never been that senseless need to fill the silence between the two of them while they had got on with little jobs at night, or read the paper. And when no one else was in, she remembered suddenly if they had been sat watching the telly, Stan would wordlessly take her hand in his and just hold it. It had been a little thing, but it had made her grin like a school girl.

"Oh chuck," she sighed as she wished for the god-only-knew-how-many time he could come back to her. Just one more day together.

That was all she wanted. Just one.

\/\/\/

If Sally had thought she was going to feel a bit better after the funeral, she soon found out that was wrong. She had thought it was going to be burying her problems but it was not because when Molly was in the ground and the funeral ended, she still had to deal with the fact that her husband was unfaithful and there was still an illegitimate, motherless child to be dealt with.

Nothing had been changed.

\/\/\/

"Sally, can we talk?" asked Kevin as he saw her but she shook her head.

"Please not here, Kev – it is not the place or the time," She said to him and she knew it was true. They had to be respectful at that moment for Tyrone's sake if not one else's.

The poor lad seemed more shell shocked than anyone else at the end of the service.

"Are you really going to take the baby away from him?" she asked as they looked at him.

"I am Jacks dad." He shrugged.

It seemed a ridiculous conversation for them to be having. "We were meant to be planning what we were going to do when the girls left home by now." she said to him mournfully. She had been looking forward to growing old with him knowing she had a friend who cared for her on her side.

She knew they had never been the passionate lovers like some up and down the street had been but she tried to make him feel loved and appreciated. She had not succeeded by the looks of things.

He did look genuinely sad when she had said that to him but it was not enough.

He had done far too much damage to her heart.

"We can get back to where we were." He said to her gently but she shook her head.

"If I thought that was true then I would fall back in to your arms right now. But what I do know is things are never going to be the same for us. And you cannot expect me and the girls to take you back just like that Kev. Not this time."

"I don't."

Apparently, they had been on there own for too long because as if they were her guard dogs, Hilda and Rita came back to her side and by the look on their faces they were none too pleased to find her talking to her husband.

"I think I have to get back to the girls." she said to him. "I am just going to go and say good bye to Tyrone," she said but Rita put a hand on her shoulder.

"He has had enough today." She said warningly and they looked over at the zombie like man. It was so clear that only the baby was getting him through it. "Let him be love."

He had had enough indeed.

"Well, come on then," she said as she linked her arms through those of the other two women. "I am going to see you around Kevin," She said with a sigh.

Tyrone was not the only one who had had enough or one day.

Sally lay back in the bath and she left the tears he had been holding back for so long run down her face. She was so glad to shut the door on the world.

The girls had said they were waiting for her to make her choice but she knew she was going to have too. She had to decide what way her life was going to go. And she had to make it for the girls, make it for herself... and she knew she had to do it for baby Jack and Kevin as well. They had to be factors in it for they were part of her life and there was no way around it.

The thing was that while she did not want to be weak and forgive Kevin, she was scared of what life was going to offer her if they were not together. She had been with him so long she had forgotten what it was like to be with anyone else and she did not want to remember either. They had been sweethearts. She knew she was never going to feel what she had for him for another man. He was the father of her kids. He had been the face she had seen when she had woken up from that god awful operation.

And yet the fact that he had been able to do all of that and still have the affair made it all the worse and it was why he knew she was not going to get over it in a hurry.

What she needed was time... it was the only thing that was going to be able to heal her this time.….. If anything could indeed.

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	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

"Before I left, Sally asked me if the three of us would like to go and spend Christmas up with her and the girls, what do you think?" said Hilda as she came into the living room.

Even though it had been a wrench leaving the street again, part of her was glad to be back in Bury with her own family rather than worrying about Sally's and to her great delight she found the atmosphere was not as bad as when she had left. It had improved greatly.

Her granddaughter did seem to be picking up a little even if she was still holding back slightly but Eddie was smiling, a little more like himself. The pieces of the puzzle were slowly coming back together again.

It was soon going to come up to them having lost Marion three months ago and with every month and week anniversary they were going to find proof life really did go on just a little more, even if they did not want too.

"Nan, I know she is your friend but does she really want me and dad there with them? We don't know them," said Dawn and her dad nodded in agreement. He did not seem over enthusiastic.

"If you want to go, Hilda love, then you should but I don't think-"

"Now don't you give me that Eddie Yeats. If she did not want the two of you there then she would not have asked you and I am not going to go anywhere without the two of you so either we all go or none of us will." Threatened Hilda. He knew she was going to want to go to be there with them when they had had such a rough time and she had fallen in love with the old street once more.

But more than that she did not want the two of them stuck in the Christmases of the past they had had with Marion. God only knew how any of them were going to get in the Christmas mood even if they did go to up Weatherfield but they were going to have to find a way.

Eddie looked at Hilda and he knew she was not going to back down on this one. He had known and he had lived with her for too long to fool himself into thinking that.

Part of him wished she would go on her own and leave him and his daughter to their grief but that was not going to be what was best for them and he knew it.

He had to put Dawn first and if he could get her in to the party mood then he was going to do so by any means possible.

"What do you think Dawny?"

Part of her wanted to tell them both straight of that she was not going to do and they were mugs for even asking her to go with them but when she looked at her Nan she knew it meant a lot to her and she was right.

At Christmas, the three of them had to be together and it really was not going to be Christmas at all for her if Hilda was not there.

And she did want to go back to the street. There was something about it which fascinated her and she was not sure if that was a good or a bad thing. The only thing she knew it to be was the truth and she decided there and then that was good enough for her. She didn't want to over analyze anything.

Hilda looked at her with shock and it was apparent she had been expecting much more of a fight from her. She knew her and her dad had got used to her being sulky and moody. S he did not like who she had become since she had lost her mum. But that was not how she had been when she was young and it was that girl she wanted to get back too.

She just did not know how she was going to do that when she had the weight of what she was carrying around with her to contend with as well.

"I'll go if you like - doesn't bother me either way."

"Well then if she is alright with it then I can not very well not be," said Eddie and Dawn realised he had been counting on her saying she did not want to go so to get him out of it as well. But it was going to be good for them.

It had to be.

"Wonderful, - I will call Sally and the girls and let them know they have a few more for dinner this year then."

"Are you sure you want to do this?" said Eddie when Hilda was gone causing his daughter to smile mischievously.

"If you do not then you should tell Nan before she rings," said Dawn with raised eye brows.

"It aint that I don't want to it is just well –"

"Dad I know what you are thinking – it is going to be hard without my mum. But the way I see it, we may as well give ourselves half a chance to enjoy it. It is what she would want for the pair of us. You know that as well as I do."

He gave her a smile. She had indeed turned a corner.

"Now are you going to tell Nan you do not want to go or not?"

"Well it is like you said lass, init? We should do it for your Nan if no one else."

She nodded glad he was seeing sense. "For Nan it is then. Now why don't I make you a brew?" She said as she got up.

"There's a good chuck!" he nodded as he picked up the mug he had been using and gave it to her so that she went out in to the kitchen to see Hilda looking through her address book.

"It is going to be a bit weird for you to have a Christmas in Weatherfield again wont it Nan?" she said as she put the kettle on. "Brew?"

"Ta love," she said as she flicked through the pages and then she stopped. "Aye, I suppose it will be but I can't wait. You know ,your granddad was the original Grinch himself some Christmases," she said to her with a smile.

"Well, from what you and dad have told me he was not the hat and cracker types." She admitted.

"No, he wasn't much – but oh he did have a lovely smile Dawn." She said as she got lost in her thoughts for a moment. Turning to see her dad standing there they shared a look as Dawn realised her Nan was yet to fall out of love with her granddad. "I reckoned he liked Christmas really – just didn't like to say so!"

"I think you're probably right Hilda." Eddie nodded.

\/\/\/

"Mum, it is not as we know them very well." Said Rosie.

She did not know why her mum had felt the need to invite the Yeats to their Christmas meal that year. If she should be inviting any one to the meal than it out to have been her dad.

"I know but I want Hilda to be here and the only way she would come if the lot of them did so that is what is going to happen."

"Well... whatever but all I am saying they don't look like Christmases people." She had not much taken to either of them when they had been here for the day and she did not like the thought of spending the holiday with them.

"Rosie, they have just lost their mum and wife, why don't you cut them a bit of slack?" Said Sophie as she and Sian came in to the conversation half way through. "Besides, it is not as if that is what Christmas is really about is it – it is just a side of it and if we can help to spread a little cheer than it can only be a good thing right?"

"Yes, Sophie thank you." Said Sally as she got a pen and a piece of paper. "So there is going to be the four of us – the three of them and I was think we should ask Rita and Emily to come as well which means we are going to have to ask Norris as well which is going to be a pain in the but I don't think any of us need but there we are." She said with a sigh.

"Don't ask Rita..."moaned Rosie. Ever since the chip pan incident the two of them had barely been on speaking terms and she did not relish the thought of having to look at her over the Christmas at all, but all her mother had to do was throw her a look to make her see she was not going to get out of this one.

"Fine but don't expect me to sit next to her. I am going out in as bit so I am going to go and get ready," she said as she flounced up the stairs.

"Have you two got any plans today?" she said to her daughter and her partner.

"No, I think we are just going to chill out."

"I am afraid not- you have just volunteered yourselves and get the Christmas groceries with me."

"Oh mum come on!"

"No amount of 'come on mum' is going to get the pair of you out of this so you might as well give it up!" warned Sally.

"But we were going to put Christmas film soon."

"You can do that when we get back, now come on and help me write this list. With so many people coming over I do not want to forget anything do I?"

The two girls rolled their eyes but they knew they had been well and truly roped in to it and had been about start reaming off what they were going to need for the meal when there was a banging on the door.

"Oh bloody hell, who is that and why can they not wait minute," she said and she run through the living room to see it was Fiz Stape who was at the door – an emotional Fiz Stape, not that that was surprising given that she had just given birth to her first daughter, called Hope.

"Did you know he was going to do this?" she said with tears running down her face.

"Come on love!" said John as he came up the path. "This is not Sally's fault."

"But it is going to destroy him. Jack is all he has left and Kevin is going to take him away!"

"Oh my god." Looking over toward number nine she sat the door was open but Tyrone was sitting on the floor with his head in his hands sobbing his heart out.

Kevin as walking down the street with a baby bag over his shoulder and his biological son in his arms towards her. She run out.

"What the hell do you think you are doing?" she said as she tried but fail to take her eyes off of Tyrone. Maria had come to his side and had taken him in her arms and she was rocking him back and forth.

"I couldn't put it off any longer Sally. He is my son and I have to bond with him - it was only going to hurt longer Ty had him." Kevin reasoned. He had not wanted to break his friends heart but he had been unable to remain without his son.

"He has only just begun to get used to life without big Jack and he has only just lost Molly. Can you not show him the smallest bit of compassion?" she asked as tears slipped down her cheeks.

"He is my son."

"And I was your wife but it didn't stop you leaving me did it?" she spat at him before she run over to number nine where Fiz was to trying to comfort Ty.

"Please just get Jack and Vera! Please bring them back..." He sobbed into Maria.

Now he had lost his own son the only people in the world he wanted were his mum and his dad.

/\/\/

"I don't think I am ever going to forgive dad." Said Sophie as she sat wrapped in Sally's arms on the sofa.

She had never known that her dad could be so heartless. She knew Jack was her baby brother and she guessed her dad did have a point when he said he wanted to be with him but the way he had done it felt wrong. She was never going to be able to forget the look on Ty's face. It would stay with her till the day she died.

There would never have been an easy way for Tyrone to give up the baby he had bonded with and believed to be his own. But could her dad not have found a way to make it hurt just a little less? She thought there must have been a way.

She did not care who it was – no one should have to go through it and it had made up her mind what she wanted her mum to do about her dad. Not take him back – or at least not yet. She did not know how she was ever going to stop feeling this way over him.

"Is Tyrone going to be ok mum?" she asked innocently even though she knew the answer. How was someone meant to be ok when they had lost their baby who had been there only reason for going on?

How did someone come through that much loss and still go on?

"I want to tell you he is, love, but I don't know if he will... the human heart can only take so much..." she sighed. "But we can try and be there for him and we can talk to your father and see if we can't reason with him, not that I want to go anywhere near him at the moment." she said before sighing. "I don't mean to bad mouth him in front of you love but ... you are not a little girl any more even if you still are my little girl – if that makes any sense what so even."

Sophie nodded.

"It does mum."

"I do love you and your sister, and Sian too," she said as she kissed her forehead. "And whatever happens to us from now on you remember that if you remember nothing else ok?" she said and Sophie nodded. "Promise me?"

"I promise mum – I love you as well."

\/\/\/

"How many days are we going to be there for?" said Dawn as she came into the kitchen the laundry under her arm. Having realised when her Nan had been away that she had left far too much for her to do of late, she had decided it was high time she begun to pull her weight again and so had started doing stuff round the house.

"I think Nan wants to be up there for about a week but we can come back early if you like." Eddie told her as she bean down to the washing machine.

"Dad, we said we are going to do this for me Nan and so if she wants us to be there for the week then we are going to be there for the week. You know what she is like about having a family Christmas this year."

"But they are not our family are they?"

"That is not what Nan means and you know it." Said Dawn.

The two of them seemed to have swapped. Just as she had got herself back on track her dad had seen the occasion to go all moody.

"Dad what have you been telling me lately? We have got to get back to some sort of normality," she said with a sigh and she knew she was the last person in the world who would be dealing out this lecture but... "I know it is going to be hard without me mam, and I miss her an all. But dad –" she broke off.

Silence took the room. "Just make sure to pack enough jumpers ok dad? Last thing we need is you getting ill from the cold at the moment."

He had been trying to get her to open up for days and when she had he had shut her down. The only thing Eddie could think as she left the room was- _you doughnut, Yeats._

Kevin held his baby son in his arms. He was so pleased to finally have him there and to be able to be proud of him and to know there was not a person in the world who had the power to take him away from him. The only thing was as much as he knew he already loved Jack, he did not want that love to cause him to lose his sisters.

Two weeks had passed and barely a civil word had passed between him and well, any one – he knew he was no closer to getting Sal or the girls back but the fact was he just wanted them all to be a family again and yet at that moment in time he did not see how on earth that was going to happen.

Looking out of the window of the flat above the taxi service which he had hired for him and Jack while he got himself together he wondered what Christmas was going to be without the girls.

He did not know...

He adored his baby son... but he wanted to see his girls so much.

Sally questioned her decision to have such a big Christmas the nearer it got to the big day. When she had first thought of it she had acted on impulses. Her friends had been so good to her that she felt she had had got pay them all back but when she looked at the numbers, there were going to be ten of them around the table – well she did not know if she was quite sure.

Finally the day when Hilda and her family were due to arrive came and in the morning Sally went to get the last of the food she was going to need, having dragged both Sophie and Sian ground Frescos just a few days before. She knew she had been lucky that she had actually succeeded in it once that she had not even tried it again.

She had been about to and pay for her groceries when she saw Maria and Fiz and she knew the two of them had been the one who had been looking after Tyrone in the wake of everything that had happened.

"How is he?" she said as she went over to them and they both gave her a sad smile. She did not think she was ever going to like Fiz after she had married John despite of all he had put her rosier through but she did feel some sort of camaraderie with her…

"He is in a bad way," She said as she shook her head and Maria nodded her head in agreement.

Even if Liam had been the love of her life, there was no getting away from the fact that when the pair of them had been young, she and Tyrone had been sweethearts and there was always going to be that bond between the two of them no matter what. Even if she could then she would not break it.

She knew she was going to have to be there for him there now more than ever because he had to know there were still people in the world who did care for him.

Like Tyrone she had been to the very depths of despair and she had found a way out again.

She was not going to let him give up no matter how much he wanted too.

"I can't and I do not want to imagine what he is going through. I could kill Kevin for what he has done to the lot of us." She said as she shook her head. She had really thought they had got passed all of this and every time she remembered they had not it just made her more and more angry.

"You are not the only one." said Fiz as she looked into the pram she was pushing and saw her baby daughter. She would go mad if any one were to try and take her away from her and she had only had her two weeks. What Kevin had done when he had taken Jack...

"I don't know what he thought he was playing at." said Maria and she knew Sally did not either and her eyes said how sorry she was for her but she had to say Tyrone was her priority at that moment. "You worry about yourself and your girls. We'll look after him. We are all going to go Fiz and Johns' for Christmas so he is not going to be alone!"

The two of them had had to bully him into saying he was going got come but they had not given in until he had said yes, for he could not be on his own when everyone else was celebrating even if he did not feel he had a lot to celebrate.

If there had been any justice in the world then Tyrone would have been Jacks father and the Duckworth's would still be about. Then together with them he and Molly would be planning their own big family Christmas

Indeed there first Christmas as a family.

Life could be cruel but as of late it seemed to be doing it worst too all of them...she did not know anyone who was not grieving for someone it seemed.

"I know he might not want it at the moment but give him my love as well as the girls," She said to them and the two of them nodded. Tyrone may have had it worst than them but she was still hurting and to that they were in no doubt.

"Merry Christmas." Fiz said to her sadly and she nodded, once more doubting any one had anything to be merry about that Christmas.

\/\/\

Dawn sat in the back of the car with her iPod in her ears for the first time in weeks and for the first time years she realised she had put no Christmas music on it. She had not had the heart for it that year until she had heard they were going to be going away for it. She had grabbed it as a second thought and hoped it would not hurt too much to listen to it. And it didn't.

Though she knew she should be happy they were going to get some sort of Christmas, she had to say she still felt a little apprehensive about it.

It was not that she did not want to go but as they went on their way she realised she was not going to know any one apart from her dad and her Nan when she got there and although she was not normally the moody stereotype, she had only just go out of her teenage years and she did like to see her friends...

But had she stayed at home then she knew that she would have said most likely no to going every time they asked her it go and spend a bit of time with them. She had hardly seen any of them since...

Maybe this was going to be a good opportunity for her to make some news friend even if they did live ages away.

At least, they were going to have a pub across the road that she was going to be able to visit if she got too coped up in the house. She knew had they stayed at home then none of them would have had a Christmas at all.

As Kelly's Clarkson's Breakaway played to her in her ears, she caught her dad's eye in the mirror and she knew he was still not a hundred percent happy about going. She had had another chat with him about it and she got the sense that even had her mum been there then Weatherfield would not have been the first place he would have chosen to go to Christmas.

Even though Eddie had loved living there and part of him felt as if it was going home, to go up to the street seemed to the other part of him said it was a bad idea for just so many reasons. It was as if he had far too many bittersweet memories there.

It was where he had met Marion and where he and Stan had spent so many hours plotting away what they were going to get up to next and how they were going to execute their plan without being caught. A smile played on his lips at the memories.

He had loved it till he had seen what had become of the street since the tram crash – now it was just a different palace all together to him.

It was not the happy place of his second child hood but somewhere that was draped in death and mourning.

And now they were going up there to try and make light and have a so called merry Christmas.

He just did not know what the girls were thinking.

As he turned off of the motorway and on to the roads that were going to take them all back to Coronation Street for another visit he let out a small sigh of protest and caught Hilda and Dawn share a knowing smile.

"I just want you both to know that I don't trust either of you right now," He said and he set the pair of them off laughing.

Only one thing was for sure in his mind at that moment. No matter what the season brought, it was going to be a Christmas none of them ever forgot.

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	11. Chapter 10

**Chapter 12**

Part of it all seemed mad to Dawn that they were going to go against the odds and try to have a decent Christmas. She had not thought she was going to be in the mood but it seemed Sally was desperate to put them there even if they not want to be and once they got there they found the tree was still bare.

"I thought I would wait until we were all here to dress it." Said Sally.

The truth was until Sophie had mentioned it, she had been so focused on getting the dinner right she had not had much of a chance to think about getting tree and dressing it.

If it was a normal Christmas then she knew she would have got Kev to go out and get it. But if she had wanted it that year she had had to go out and get it herself. It was just another way which her life had change of late and she knew she was going to have to do a lot more for herself from own but at the same time that did not have to be a bad thing.

"That is such a lovely thought chuck!" Said Hilda as she sat on the sofa.

She was tired already but she did not think she had been that happy in so long. She had every one she cared for about her who would be about her. She had sent cards to Trevor and Irma before she had left for Weatherfield and she had put letters in them explaining what had gone on of late.

If she was honest then she knew it was a good thing that she had her make shift family for herself.

She and Stan had had four babies and yet none of them were about her in her old age.

She was not even going to try and say they had been great parents because she knew it was a lie but she had thought in her old age they might have forgiven or come back to her but she had not been that lucky.

That did not mean she was not grateful for what she did have, and as she watch Dawn come down from upstairs she was going to be bunking in with Sian while they were there, she did not think she would want to be anywhere else in the world. No, if she did have a child then it was her Eddie and if she had a favourite grandchild then it was her Dawn. She seemed to be herself more of late.

"It is. Because we're were coming up here Mrs. Webster we did not bother getting one this year," said Dawn as she took the coke that she had been given when she come in and sat down by her grandmother, leaving the space on the sofa for her dad. "If we did not help you with yours then we would not have got to dress one at all this year."

She had got in the mood when she had got there. Christmas had always begun for her when she and Marion had put up the tree. Her dad had helped when she had been a young girl but he had sneaked off duty more and more as she had got older. She knew he was probably sad for that fact this year as the year before he had not known he was missed his last opportunity to do it with both his wife and his child.

"We'll start as soon as Rosie gets back from Jason's." She said as she went to the phone. "I am going to give her a call," said sally.

She did not want to wait any more now. She couldn't wait and was a child herself once more at that moment. An odd, unexpected excitement seemed to becoming over the lot of them.

"We have to wait for Emily and Rita as well remember!" said Sophie as she perched off the breakfast bar with Sian standing at her side.

To their great delight after she had been so against the two of them when they had told her, Emily had since the train crashed it seemed come round to their relationship. There was a lot to be said for a bit of good old fashioned perspective.

Once it had happened she had seemed to take on a bit more of a relaxed attitude to them. Of all the years she had lived there, she had seen so much that once she had got used to the idea she had come round a little and while Emily did not think it was ever going to sit well with her Christianly, she did love Sophie as a kind of surrogate grandchild. When she had come to her and they had spoke about her faith it had been a wonderful moment for them but not quite as good as when she had been asked to be her godmother when she had chosen to get baptised.

She had been so proud of her and she did not want to break that bond.

So she knew she was just going to have to except her warts and all and she knew she could do that.

She was not a saint and she had made plenty of mistakes in her life. She had no right to judge the girls.

And she did not want to lose their friends. They had all lost so much that even if you were not hurting for someone you knew then you were hurting for a friend of a friend.

She was not going to bring about any more pain.

Not now.

She couldn't.

Rosie came back quickly when her mum ask her. She admitted to herself she felt close to Sally as well as Sophie and Sian. Ever since she had been young there had always been a reserve for her about her dad. The way he had had the affair when they had been young had built a bridge between them they had not yet been able to knock down and she did not know if she was even going to want too.

The fact was even though she did love him it was not as if she needed him.

She had Jason and she had her sister and her mum – and she did not want her mum to show herself disrespect by taking her back.

They had had enough of trouble in their family and the fact that they were having trouble again surely seemed to suggest it was time for her mum and dad to call it a day.

But then it was not going to be her choice was it?

The only thing she was not so sure on was this Christmas. She did not know why her mum was doing this to them. It was as if she just could and would not accept their life was so broken. It was and yet she was putting on the ridiculous facade.

But if it was what she wanted them she knew she had to at least try and give it to her. She had had such a rough few years; the only thing her mum wanted was a bit of peace which apparently she was going to find in chaos.

But it was so ... not her.

When she got back to the house she found the others were all there.

Yet it struck her that she knew well only the four people who she lived with. It was not as if she was close with the others.

She looked at two new comes with disdain and Hilda as well. She knew her sister was most taken with them but she was not.

The red head, Dawn, was her name; god she looked so dowdy. She was not her sort of girl at all. She had bagged jeans and a hoodie on and did not look at all as if she was up for a good time.

As she had been reminded by her own mum, the girl had lost her own mother but if that was a bad enough excuse for those clothes!

As for the man, well, if she did not want her own father having about then she was not going to want someone else's to be there was she?

She rolled her eyes...

This was all so stupid, but she was going to do it for Sally if this was what she wanted.

Picking up on the mood her daughter was in, it was not long until Sally found that she was saying sorry for the way she was acting to Eddie who she was trying to get to know a little better herself.

It was not only for her sake she was trying to do so but his. She got the feeling that due to the bond the pair of them, he felt he had to get to know her for Hilda and he wanted to know she was ok when she was with them.

It was strange how the relationship he had with Hilda changed as they had got older and the elements of it had changed. Eddie remembered how when he had moved he had very much been a partner in crime simultaneously to Stan as well as Hilda, though perhaps more so to Stan. While the two of them had been plotting go to make a bit of money or how to get out of work in Stan's case, he had also been trying to stay on Hilda's good side by getting Stan in to work.

And yet he had known he was the junior partner in both relationships. He had felt as if he had been very young – it really had been another shot at being another child for him and he did not think he was ever going to be grateful enough for that.

Had it not been for the pair of them, then he never would have got that.

He had felt when they had worried for him and while he had not wanted to be a burden, he had been wise enough to know they had only worried because well – not that any of them would have said it of course – but they had loved and cared for him as their own.

But the older he got, the more he begun to worry for Hilda and the less she worried for him. It was a true role reversal and not one he wanted to happen to him and his daughter, though he did not think he was going to be able to stop it for it had already begun.

"I know we do not know one another well but I am glad you are here. I could do with a few friends about me, and well – I wanted Hilda here. It has been a long time since we have been in one another's lives and I did not want to leave it so long again. "

"I think if I were you then I would feel the same. Not a lot odd people seem to see it but she is a very special lady." He said quietly.

"I think she is worth a lot more credit than she is due that is for sure." She nodded.

While they were talking they stood together in the kitchen and there was a wall between them. They had not meant it to be there but Marion's death and Kevin's cheating had put it there before they had had a chance to met. After all it was not normal circumstances in which they were meeting was it? They didn't have a choice in it, but each was holding back.

"I do think she loves to feel needed though. All the time she was with Stan he needed her and yet when he was gone so was that feeling there was!"

He knew he was saying too much and at that moment, it related too much to the two of them as well as Hilda to say the words.

"I know what you mean and all the same, I am glad I have got the chance to get to know you at last. When I was living with her and Kevin all I got was my Stan this or my Eddie that," She said with a sad laugh but it was not really funny.

With it all becoming far too heavy far too fast he wished he was able to get over to the pub.

If only Stan was there, he could have found a way.

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	12. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

Dawn did not sleep that first night at the Websters. With Christmas Eve being the next day, she had plenty going in her head as well as getting used to the house where she was going to be staying for the next few days.

Her mind was racing as she recalled how her life had changed in the past year. She was also beginning to form an opinion of those she had met. Having seen most of the people she was going to be spending her holiday with at least twice she was beginning to get a grasp of them.

It was one of her flaws she knew that she took some people too much on face value – and she knew she judged too quickly. Before she had had the misfortune to lose her mother, she had not been one for deep thought. She had got that from her dad, Marion had always said, for her mother had been more than happy to sit and think and watch the world go by.

But she had not been, she always liked to be on the go. She liked to exercise and swim and to go to parties... or she had.

So much of her life seemed to be in the past tense that she almost felt it was her who had died and not her mother some days.

And she guessed part of her had died. The child in her had.

Shaking her head her thoughts shifted back to her hosts. She liked Sally well enough. She knew she had been very brave the year before when she had had to face cancer and her Nan had told her she had not been as fortunate as she herself had been in her childhood. She seemed a little pedantic and too obsessive for her normal tastes, but she had been kind when she had asked her and her dad to spend Christmas with them.

As for the girls, she already knew Sian and Sophie were the sort of girls who she was going to have a bit of a laugh with. They seemed a bit rough and ready and willing to give anything a go. They had been a right laugh when they had been putting up the tree, Sophie always ready with a story behind one of the decorations and Sian always behind her with a witty joke to make about it.

It had not taken her long to pick up on the fact there might be a little more than friendship between them by the way that they were together. They were perhaps a little too touchy feely to be just best friends, not that Dawn had any trouble with that.

She had been in primary school with a lad named Martin and they two of them had been close all the way to secondary school. When he had as it were come out to her it had been a wee bit of a shock but he had still been Martin.

He had just been gay with it.

As for Rosie, she seemed a tad superficial and she did not to think that was going to be changing, that that was going to remain her opinion of her. but then that was a case of horses for courses.

Dawn had never been the sort of girl who had had the patience to do her make up for hours in the bathroom mirror - to her that was a waste of time.

When she had been school her grandmother had taken great delight in nick naming her a soap dodger. And she had had some rows with her mum when she had been young about bath time. She had hated wasting her playing time.

Thankfully, she had turned out to be a little more hygienic the elder she got but the same impatience streak remained. And the stubborn one she remembered with a grimace.

No, she had not been the easiest child and she did not think she was going to be the easiest adult when the time came.

()()()

Sally rolled over in her bed and she was reminded Kevin had cheated on her just by virtue of the fact he was not there with her. It broke her shattered heart again.

How much more was she meant to take?

It was easy to be strong in the day when she was busy and she was doing things. But when she was on her own at night she knew she weakened.

And she did miss him...

Then so many people had lost so much was she not being a little ungrateful at keeping him away she said to herself. She knew if Claire was in her position then she would have Ashley back in a heartbeat.

But she was not.

And she was glad she was in her position rather than Claire's and she knew it could be worse...

Oh, she was going to have to say so if she did want him back. But her heart was a story of two halves at that moment.

Running a hand through her hair she knew she was going to have to get up and start getting everything ready. Christmas Eve had come and she still had wrapping to do in spite of the fact she had said she was going to be ready.

There just had not seemed to be enough hours in the day to get everything done. Even though she had not had a husband to look after she had had the girls still. She was glad there were three of them for they kept her on her feet.

And there were three more heads under her roof and she was glad of that too. it kept her busy...

A knock came on her door.

"Come in," she said as she looked at the clock to see the time. It was half six.

She was shocked to see her youngest was up already and she came in and sat on her bed, once she had put two cups of hot sweet tea down.

"You ok pet?"

Sophie shook her head. As Sally had known it was the anger she had felt towards her father for taking the baby away and having the affair was fading.

She did miss her dad. It was nearly Christmas and it had been years since the lot of them had spent it apart. Sophie wished he was with them...

"Come here baby," sighed Sally and she let her crawl into her arms. She hated to see her child in pain.

Sophie shut her eyes and she cuddled her mum. In spite of her sixteen years she knew she still needed her mum – almost more than ever.

It had not been the way that Sally had been planning to being her Christmas but it was lovely none the less. Her lovely lovely girl...

"I know it does not feel like it right now but it is going to be ok for us my darling." She said as she kissed her head.

"Mum, it is going to be so odd without dad here!"

"Do you want me to call him home?"

"Not if you are not happy too," Sophie said as she looked up at her. "You have to do what is right for you."

"But I want to do what is right for you girls."

"But mum we are nearly grown. I know I am not acting like it but I am not a child. Soon enough we are going to be gone."

"Don't say that."

"Well, it might be true. Mum, this is your time again. Take hold of it no matter what. Mum, we can be here for you too, and we are going to be."

Kissing her daughter's forehead again, she sighed.

"We are going to make Christmas fun no matter how hard we have to work at."

"I think I am going take Dawn to the cafe for breakfast and give you all a bit of a break." Said Eddie as he came down the stairs.

He liked Sally and he appreciated everything she had done for them. But he still did not know if he was happy to be there are not. It felt so odd to be back on coronation street.

"Is it a proper old style greasy spoon?" said Dawn as she came through to the kitchen hot on his heels.

"Well it was when I lived here with your Nan and granddad," he said as he kissed her forehead, "good morning."

"And to you too," she said glad that they were united in their uncertainty.

"Yes it is a bit still. Not like Jim's was but Roy can cook a mean fry up." Sally said having heard what they were saying. "But please don't feel as if you have to go out, you are both more than welcome to have your breakfast here." Sally reassured them both.

"No, I want to treat her as it is nearly Christmas," he replied as he and his daughter put their coats on. "Hilda, are you going to come with us," he said to the old women who shook her head.

"Eddie it is nearly ten thirty, I had my breakfast few hours ago and please do not keep Dawn long. I want her back here to help with the veg pealing no later than mid day. Sally has put herself out so you are going help out my girl and no argument!" she said sternly.

Putting her hand to her forehead she gave a salute. "Yes Nan."

"You do not have too," Sally said to her with a shake of her head as Hilda tried to organise everything.

"No, Nan, is right you are doing a lot for us," she said with a smile. "I am more than happy to help out. Come on dad the sooner we get off then the sooner we can be back to help."

Tyrone sat in Roy's looking at the meal he had got. He had to get out of the house and he had had to get away from the girls. They were hen pecking about him like it was no body's business. As much as he knew it was because they cared part of him, he just wanted to be left alone to grieve all he had lost. He was going to go to Christmas at John and Fiz's to get them off their back but he had nothing celebrate.

All he wanted was for his son to be returned to him. Jack was the only thing in his thoughts. Was he ok or was he crying? He had no idea what was going on and he had been taken away from all he had known in the first few months of his young life.

He had lost so much and he was mere weeks old.

The fry up before him, though it smelt good, did nothing to get him to try and eat it. He did not usually need persuading but that day and every day since the tram crash he could not eat. He did not know why he had got it but he had felt he to get something if he was going to sit there.

He could feel Roy's eyes on him and he knew they were pity. But he did not want pity.

He just wanted his old life back.

He knew that was not going to happen though. His past was gone and nothing on earth was going to bring it back to him.

No matter how hard he prayed he thought.

He had been sitting there a while when the door opened and he saw a young girl walk in with red hair. Though she had a smile on her face there was a sadness about her even though...

Behind her a larger, aging man entered and though it looked as if his own hair had been red once it was now rapidly greying.

"Right, my lovely, I take it you want a full fry up if I have raised you well at all." Said Eddie to his daughter.

"Well, I had better agree just to keep you happy even, though I do think when the new year's comes we should starting eating a little better." She said to him with a pair of raised eyebrows. She had been thinking over all her Nan had said to her and she had decided she had better take it to heart. She had to start being there for him and start taking care of her dad. "Mum would not want you to have so much fatty foods and you know she would not."

After all, he had thought about the relationship he had had with her and her not having to worry about him, it seemed as if that was what she was doing and it was going to be the case regardless to what he thought he knew.

If she felt she had to keep an eye on him for Marion's sake then she was going to damn well do it.

"Well, let me at least enjoy this one as a Christmas present eh pet?"

"You are just a bad man my darling papa," she said teasingly.

"Aren't I just my dear?" he said as he went to the counter. "Can I have two of your finest fry ups for my darling daughter and myself." He said to the man behind the counter with a smile to his child who shook her head.

"Geek," she said under her breathe as she shook her head.

Well if this was him not sure he was enjoying himself, then she did not want to see him going for it full pelt she thought teasingly.

Seeing there was a table going free she sat down on it while he got the breakfasts. She and her Nan were right. Getting away was doing him the world of good.

"Tea chuck?" he said to her from where he was standing. The cafe was so quiet that he barely had to raise his voice and she gave a nod.

From where she was sitting she looked across to where a man was sting in front of his own fry up and he looked a little sad himself. She gave a smile to him and he nodded.

Eddie had watched the little scene play could not say he was too happy about it. She might be twenty one but she had never had a real boyfriend he did not think and in that regard she was still his little girl. If it was only going to be for a few months longer he wanted to keep it that way and he was grateful when he was given the breakfasts so he could cut off the eye contract between his daughter and the young man by sitting in between them.

Well, he thought,young but he did look a little old. Too old for _his_ daughter.

"Well my darling," he said as he raised his mug to her. "Let us hope in part this at least can be a merry Christmas!"

She looked at him sadly. They had been having a good time and then he had reminded her not that she ever forgot. Not for a moment could she forget her mum was gone for it was a loss she felt more every day.

And every time she saw that she was not at her father's side she remembered it.

And every time she looked into his eyes she felt guilty.

She had been about to start her meal when the guilt she felt stabbed her in her stomach. She raised her hand to her mouth for fear she was going to be unwell.

"Dad I hope you don't mind but I think I am going to go home and start on that veg; I don't feel quite myself." She said as she tried to move away but it was clear he was not going to let her go home without a bit of a fight. He had to know what was up with her.

"Dawn." said her father in a manner that made sure she knew he would mind very much if she left him there very much. Putting his own knife and fork down, he reached across the table and took her hand, the good mood they had been in when they had got to the cafe utterly gone from them. It was time. "Since your mums death it is if you are keeping something from me. I do not know what it is but this has gone on long enough. Open up to me Dawn. Let me in. There is nothing in the world that could change the way I feel about you. You are my daughter," He said and he felt the tears fill up in his eyes. He was no good at this and he never had been. He had always left the more emotional side of raising their child to his wife and so to see her so distressed and being unable to comfort her – he hated it and he felt so useless.

"You do not know what I have done." She said as she let her own tears fall down her. The breakfast that was in front of her was completely forgotten. She put her head in her hands and she knew it was time.

"I know it cannot be that bad no matter what it is." He sighed. "Dawn please. - "

"I did not go straight home – that day!" she said. She knew the few other patrons of the cafe were looking at her and she felt like a fool. She really did but he was right – it was time he knew. She had to confess or it was just going to keep tearing her apart. And she did not want that

"What do you mean?"

"I mean on the day we lost mum I was at Martins do you remember?"

"Of course."

"Well I said to mum I was going to be back by about four but on the way home I decided to stop off for a few sweets and a drink. Nothing I needed – I could have done without but I did not – dad if I had gone straight home we might not be here now. We might be at home with my mum getting ready for a family Christmas as we did every other year." It was so hard to think she might have been able to save her and yet because she had been selfish they had lost her.

His face softened. He had to say he had been scared of what she was going to say to him for a moment. He had thought she was really going to have this awful confession that was going to take her from him.

But as usual she had blown things out of the water.

She just was not so good at thinking things through before she got upset over them and that was hard surprising considering everything.

"Dad, I am so sorry! I just feel as if it was all my fault and now – dad I don't know if why I did it."

"Well I do, do you want to know why? Because the fact is as far as any of us knew it was a normal day. I went to work, Hilda went to her club and none of us knew any the wiser. Babe if we are going off on that logical then you can blame me just as much – when I got up that day I did not feel very well and if I had stayed home then I would have been able to ring the ambulance as soon as it happened. Now you tell me my lass do you blame me for what happened to your mummy?" he said as he tucked a string of hair behind her ear.

She shook her head. "No, dad, how could you even think that?"

"Then why do you let it built up inside of you so much? it is the same thing and it came between us for so long. Sweets, the two of us should be close than ever before rather than pushing one another away. Oh our kids come here!" he said as pulled out the chair next to him and invited her round.

Shaking and sobbing for once since they had lost her mum the two of them were not fighting and they were not pushing against one another. They were united as father and daughter.

"Oh come on baby," he sighed as she shook in his arms and he released this was the first time he had held her as she cried for her mum. For days after her death she had been so shocked by it all that she had been barely been able to cry for her and when she had she had done it on her own or she had gone to Hilda.

She had just kept her distance from him and he had hated it.

"It's ok my little treasure. Daddy's here. Shh, I know you are hurting but I am always going to be here." He said to her.

"Dad I just miss her so much." She admitted at last. Big tears rolled down her cheeks as the defensive brook away.

"I know you do my darling and so do I," he said as he kissed her and rocked her back and forward forgotten that they were in public. It did not matter where they were as long as they two of them were together and that was the only thing that was important to him. "I love you so much my darling."

"Love you too daddy," she said as she hugged him. She had needed to hear that he did not blame her for what had gone on for so long, that she had forgotten what it was to feel so relieved.

He was her dad and her best friend and she was going to need him to get through it all with her.

"Shh, please stop crying," He said as he kissed her cheek and continued to cuddle her glad that he had got her back for Christmas.

It was the best present he had ever got.

Dawn wiped the last of the tears from her eyes as she and her dad left the cafe. The pair of them were arm in arm as they did so and both of them had lighter hearts than when they had gone in.

"I am so glad I got that off of my chest before Christmas," she said as she hugged him. "I feel as if I have been such a mug."

"Aye, pet, that is because you have been. How did you think I was going to blame you for not being there when you just like the rest of us had no idea there was anything wrong. And, love, you heard what the doctors said at the time there was nothing they could do for your mum. She was there and then she was gone just like that." He said as they pasted the hair salon.

"I know but – I guess I wanted there to be something I could have done. Dad, I am still waiting for her to walk through the door even though I know she is not going too."

It sounded stupid she thought. She knew she was not a kid and she should not act as if she were one but she could not get her head round the fact that her mum had been there and then just like that she had been taken away from them as if she had never been there at all.

She wanted to scream out at the world that it was wrong and it wasn't fair even then.

Her dad was too young to be a widower and she was too young to be motherless even though she knew there were a lot of kids younger than she was without a mum. but she did not know how even to begin to accept all that had happened.

"And you think that I am not my darling. Love, there are things in this world we are never going to understand no matter how much we try too. Your mum is gone, but the two of us still have one another." He said as he kissed her forehead. "But you do have to be honest with me and you have to open up to me when you are scared or upset darling. Don't shut me out."

"I am not going to any more dad I promise you. I was a fool to do it the first time and I am not going to make the mistake again." She said.

"Right, well, I am glad to hear that. Now right my young girl you get in there and you get peeling the veg for tomorrow. I don't want no one saying us Yeats don't pull our weight when we have too," he said as he tapped her on her nose.

He could not say how relieved he was too have his little girl back.

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	13. Chapter 12

**Chapter 13**

Once she Sian, Sophie and Rosie were done with the veg, Eddie took his daughter to the Rovers. The others said they were going to go over later but it had been clear when they had both come in from there breakfast red eyes that they had needed a bit of time together and so they had let them go ahead for which Eddie was grateful.

For the first time since he had lost his wife, he felt as if he was being a decent parent. He felt as if he was a parent.

"You know, if mum was here he would be none too pleased about the pair of us sneaking off for a pint of Christmas Eve." She said with a shake of her head.

"And if your grandma Winifred was here then she would be given me a thick ear as well which is why I am always going to be grateful that you got your drinking from our side of the family." Said Eddie as he laughed.

"Do you mean the Ogden's when you say that?" she asked genuinely interested.

"Aye, love, I guess I do. Don't get me wrong, I did love your grandma Yeats but when I met them the Ogden's made me one of their own and when I think of where I come from I always think of them rather than my mum and dad now. I don't know if it is wrong or right but I know it is the ways things are," he said with a shrug.

She respected him more for his honesty. A lot of people might try to cover the way they really felt up.

"I wish I had had time to get to know granddad a bit better."

"So do I, but if I can tell you one thing about your granddad right now it is that this place right here was his spiritual home and retreat when life with your Nan got a little too much for him, as well as for me."

"Well, I am sure life with the pair of you running her ragged half the time got a bit much for my nana as well," She said to him with a giggle so sure was she he and her grandfather had not been the martyrs he was making the pair of them out to be.

"Aye, love I am sure your right, but I can tell you this for one thing my love we were happy." He said with sigh that told her he was longing for his past quite as much as she wanted to be back in hers.

"You know what we need to do, don't you?" she said as she turned to him.

"What's that pet?" He said as he took a sip of his point and turned to her.

"We need to take the good out of the past and we need to make a few new memories that we don't feel sad about when we look back on them."

"That love – is a grand idea. And that is exactly what we are going to do."

Somehow, they were going to let the past go and they were going to move on.

Liz and Jim had to say they were rather nervous about that night. Before the crash they had been saying they were going to have a right old knees up on Christmas Eve for the whole street. After all, they were a community the likes of which did not really seem to exist in many others places and they had wanted to make a celebrations of it and every one had said to him what a great idea it had been.

And then there lives had come tumbling down around them.

Anyway, when it had all happened they were going to call it of but then as the days had gone on the mood seemed to lift just as it had between the Yeats.

The pair of them had come back together and Hilda had come back to the street for the first time in years and to, at least some of the members of the street, it felt as if it was beginning to rise out of the ashes of what had been in to a phoenix already and Liz was one of those.

In spite of everything, she had a lot of hope for her future. When she had said to people such as Rita she was going to cancel the Christmas get together they had planned, she had said that it was a bad idea – she had made the great point that if people had ever needed their spirits taken up a bit then it was there and then.

It did not have to be as big as they had planned it but they should go through with it nevertheless for the members of the community who wanted to forget a bit and have a break from the unrelenting misery that had seemed to take over their lives.

Yet there were plenty of people with plenty to celebrate still.

The majority of the street still had a lot of their good health and even if they had lost a friend, they had found out how many others they had when people had inevitably begun rallying round to make sure they were going to be ok.

And why the hell shouldn't they celebrate the street? It was one to be proud of and it had dealt with everything admirably.

But then she knew there was going to be those who said she was being disrespectful but she did not see how she was when she was in the state of grief herself for her bar man.

Sean may have been a member of staff but he had been her friend, as well, she liked to think and she knew she was going to miss the cheeky smile he wore when he was late to work. She was going to miss the way he flirted causally with the customers and wound up Steve when he had the chance.

Though he had not been there long in comparison to someone such as Betty. he had been there ever since she had been land lady. And so for her he had been part of the fixtures and fittings of the place.

As she got ready for the night that was ahead of them all, she felt a pair of arms wrap round her and she did not think she had ever been so glad for Jim being there for her.

"Thank you," she said as she turned in to him with a smile and looked in to the eyes she knew so well still after all this time.

Ever since she had been a teenager they had always been part of what had attracted her to Jim, for she had always found them so expressive. She had been able to tell what he was thinking and feeling in them for so long.

They were like her favourite book and after all this time she loved to read it.

The one thing she had never been when she had been with him was bored. Yes, she had got very frustrated with him over the years but then she had always been the very first person to admit to that. And yes she had been scared and she still did not know if that should give her reason to stay away from him. But as ever, even when she knew she should not go near him, she did. She was a moth to the flame with him and she did not think she was ever going to want that to change.

Her Jim was never going to be a saint but he was all she was going to want she thought if she was ever going to be able just to settle down with him.

If he had not been a saint to her over the years then she knew she had been no angel. Yet maybe now they were older and wiser they were going to be able to make it work.

She knew he was what he wanted now. And that was what was mattered.

"Right shall we get this show of the road now?" he said and she nodded. If he was at her side then she knew she was going to be ready for this. As long as they were together then things were going to be ok.

She trusted him and she hoped that was going to be a mutual feeling from that time on.

It had to be two way for it to work didn't it?

Sally looked at herself in the mirror. She was not sure about the top she had on, even though the girls had said she looked good. It was not that she did not trust their sense of style for she did but it was the whole idea of going out to a party type – thing. And going on her own without Kev.

As much as she had got used to, seeing some people since her marriage had fell down around her she did not want to see others such as Janice. She was no doubt going to have a nice sarky comment to put her down.

She wondered if there was an excuse she could make to get out of going with them all but then why should she? She had done nothing wrong.

And she had a point to prove to herself.

She could do this on her own if she had too. She did not need him there to hold her hand.

"Mum, are you ready? The pub is going to be shut by the time we get there," said Rosie with a smile as she came up to her room with her usually sensitivity. But before she went her smile did softened a little and she gave her mum a grin. "You do look really good mum."

"Thanks love but – "

"But nothing – come on. We are all going to be there with you and Sophie said she has seen Emily and Rita go in already and Hilda is right ready for the off," she said.

Sally nodded, swallowed her nerves as well as her pride and went to join the girls.

This was what she had wanted – a family Christmas. And so she had to make sure she and the rest of them got the best out of it...

(()()())

Eddie sat on a stool by the booth while the girls had crowded in to it. He was one of only two males who were going to be there at the Webster's that Christmas and from the sound if it he did not think that Norris was going to be quite his sort of man but he did not even mind. Things seemed on the up that night for them all once they had sat down with the drinks.

"Do you know what I think we need if we are going to make this a proper old fashioned Rovers Christmas, like the ones we used to have when we were all whipper snappers," said Rita as she sipped her fourth gin and tonic. -

She was not one for drinking so much as loath as she was to admit it now she had got to well – the wrong side of sixty five shall we say - and she had always had a glad or two if she was in need of a confidence and it was certainly giving her boost she needed that night.

"What's that chuck?" said a giggling Hilda as she straighten the hat she had brought with her out of a stray cracker which she one had pulled that day proving Christmas was well and truly under way for the lot of them.

"I think we should have a bit of a sing song."

"That is a brilliant idea, oh chuck shall we?"

Dawn looked to her father to what his opinion of all this was and just like them, he seemed simply delighted at the idea. He had been horrified to hear from Hilda in 1986 that when the fire had burned down the old Rovers they had not put in a new piano.

That had been a central part of it at holiday and birthdays the way he remembered it but then maybe he did romanticize those days a little.

"Are the pair of them sure about this?" said Sally but she too was laughing. Once she had got to the pub she realised a lot of people were on her side and if they were not then they were not worth bothering with.

She had her girls about her and that was what mattered.

Besides in the wake of the tram crash, what had happened to her was small fry.

"Well, if we are going to go a Christmas these then it has to be a Christmas carol doesn't it?" said Rita as her eyes lit up and met Hilda and it was not long before the shrill voices joined together and the first verse of 'Let It Snow,' was going about the pub and by the end of the first chorus everyone else was joining in to.

Kevin walked the streets with a finally quiet Jack. He had been screaming when they had left the flat and he had had to walk out with him for a bit to get him to go to sleep.

He was glad when he had nodded off at last, but when he did he found he had ended up outside of the Rovers and he knew that was where he was going to stay away from, the ways things have been of late... On the outside of the community he had loved being part of ever since he had been a lad of eighteen.

As the sounds of them singing reached his ears he knew he had a screwed up more than ever before. He knew his girls and Sally were going to be in there as was Hilda, if there was a sing song going on. And Eddie and his kid were going to be there and the McDonald's and the Barlow's were going to be there so they could see their Amy for a bit.

All the friends and people he had known. And now none of them had a shred of respect left for him.

And he knew he deserved none. And knowing he was getting his just deserted was even worst.

()()()

Tyrone propped up the bar with Jim and Steve as well as Kirk and John who had been let off dad duties by Fiz for the night.

The girls had said something low key was going on and all the boys were going. They told him to get out and he had decided to go just for the drink and when the pub started to sing 'Let it Snow', while he did not feel like joining in, he did enjoy the comradery of it and the feeling they were all there other.

His eyed feel once more on the girl who he had seen that morning in the cafe, Dawn, he thought her name and he could not help in spite of himself thinking that there was a certain kind of prettiness about her when she laughed.

Her red hair had been let down where as it had been tied up when he had seen her that morning when he had gathered that she had lost her mum that year, which was perhaps why her dad seemed to be a bit of a guard dog over her. And it was not as if he could say anything against dads.

Even if he was not Jacks then he had felt like he had been and he knew what it was like to hold a child and what to give them the whole world, for he had felt like that for his son when he had had him.

He did not think he had ever hated someone as much as Kevin Webster.

By the look on his faced the others knew he had got caught up in the past and his emotions were threatening to over through and so Jim touched his arm to jerk him out of his thought.

"Come on, lad, that is not what tonight is about."

There was cheering as the song came to an end, the rest of the pub laughing as Rita and Hilda bowed.

"Some Christmas this is., He muttered as he sunk his pint and asked Jim for another one.

His eyes returned to Dawn and she gave him a smile and raised her own drink to raised it to him slightly with a smile.

Some Christmas indeed.

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	14. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

"Come on, get up!" said the two Webster girls as they went into the guest room to find Sian and Dawn were still in bed but the two of them felt they had laid in quite long enough and it was time for the pair of them to get off their lazy bones and wake up.

"Five more minutes!" said Sian as she tried to put the pillow over her ears to shut out the noise.

"Oh for god's sake," said her excited girl friend as she knelt down and took the pillow away from her. As mature as the two of them were meant to be by now, neither Sophie nor Rosie had ever been much good at controlling themselves about Christmas and it was no different for them that year.

Dawn, on the other hand, was a bit more like Sian and as the pair of them looked at each other her plea for five more minutes was written all over the faces but it was obvious neither of them were going to get their wish.

"Come on, will the two of you get down stairs so we can get this Christmas under way?" said Rosie as she run out of the room and down the stairs.

"Ok, I am going to get up," said Sian as Sophie seemingly cuddled her out of bed.

It was going to be a good Christmas for the two of them indeed thought Sian.… their very first one together as a couple and no one could say they had not fought for the right to be together or to enjoy it. Screw what everyone else said about them.

The two of them were going to be stronger than ever for the New Year and that was all that mattered to them. They were going to be together as they had been so far –and that was against the odds.

In the time that the two of them had been getting ready to go down stairs, so had Dawn. Wrapping her dressing gown about herself, she wiped some of the sleep out of her eye and was still yawning by the time she got down the stairs to where Eddie was.

He had a warm smile on his face for her but more than that he had a brew for her which she was grateful for. He had learnt very early on in her teenage years she was good for nothing until she had had her brew.

"Merry Christmas sleepy head," he said as he gave her the mug and gave her a one armed hugged which she gratefully accepted.

"You too dad," she said through another yawn.

The two of them stood there for a moment as the other girls got stuck in to the presents and Dawn saw out of her eye there was as yet a pile on the sofa that was untouched.

As he saw her looking at them he gave her a grin. "It does not normally take you this long until you get stuck into them kiddo," he said. He did not know if it was a good thing she was shocked he had remembered to get her things or not. What did that say about him as a dad?

Though he knew he was going to have to come clean at some point in the day that a lot of it had been Marion before she had gone for she had always been a early shopper for which he had been grateful that year because if he had been left on his own to do it all then he was not sure if she would have got anything that she had actually wanted or liked that year. That said he thought he had done quite well when he had gone out that year doing the last bits of the Christmas shopping.

"Dad – I mean this year - I just."

"I never said Christmas was cancelled did I? And when you grandmother and Sally made it happen for the pair of us I thought I might as well bring them up here so you could have them with the other girls. And besides I have already been under the tree and seen you have brought presents for me and your Nan, so it is hardly unlikely that we were not going to give you anything this year was it?" he said.

"You are officially the best daddy in the world!" she said as she kissed his cheek and went to join the others in undoing her own pile.

Form where he was he saw Hilda throws a wink his way. She had been instrumental in getting presents for Dawn as well and he was pleased she seemed to think he was going right by her.

As for Hilda, she had her own pile of presents that year as well and while she had always got something from the Yeats she had to say she had been rather touched when she had found out that the girls and Sally had got her a gift as well.

It had been quite unexpected but rather lovely at the same time.

For the time being Sally was the only one who had got dressed before she had come down but that had been because she really had been up at the crack of dawn for she had had to get the turkey in the oven if she had had a chance of cooking it on time. And she had not been able to sleep.

She had been up all night thinking – but it had been worth it, because she had had come to her decision about what she was going to do not that she had told any one yet or was going to that day - but she had done what the girls had told her to and she had thought about herself and she had decided as much as she loved kids, she was not going to start all over again. Not when it was someone else especially.

She knew if she had tried to take her godson on full time then it would be the wrong thing for the pair of them as she did not know, if she could live with the living proof of her husband's adultery for the rest of her life. Had she been brought up in Hilda's era then maybe she would have been willing too but it was she had not and she was not. There were many things she would have done for Kev once upon a time but bringing up another women's child had never been one of them. No, she was always going to care for the pair of them but they were on their own as far as she was concerned.

The sinking ship that had been her marriage was nearly down. And she was deserting before it got too late to do so.

"So how do you feel this morning nanny dearest?" teased Dawn, as the two of the sat together her Nan on the sofa and her own the floor as she begun to make her way through her presents. She did not think she had seen her enjoy herself so much in years as she had the night before, when they had been in the pub and though her dad had said to her when she had been young, her Nan had liked a sing song in the pub, she had never been there to witness it as she had been the night before.

"I am a little tender," she said picking up on the implication. It had been a while since she had had such a skin full and she had every intention of blaming Rita for leading her astray. She could not say she cared for Dawn giving her a ribbing but she got used to her teasing style over the years and she gave her a grin. If it had been the other way round, as it had been on more than one occasion when her grandchild had had a skin full, she had made her own enjoyment clear – if she remembered once she had been so cruel as to make a fry up for Eddie when Dawn had been in the room feeling rather sorry for herself. Dawn had been a sparring partner for her over the years as well as a loving grandchild.

Dawn smiled, her apparent love of Christmas renewed. Going over to the window to open up the curtains which were as yet shut she gasped.

It was to everyone delight that she found when they had been sleeping snow had fallen down on the street. It was now covered, not a cobble spared from it.

It had been an awful run up to Christmas for the lot of them but when they had got to it, it had turned out to be a white one. They all agreed it had been years since they had seen such a thing and in spite of themselves it heightened there enjoyment of Christmas, for all them – all the way through from Sian to Hilda.

Dawn however was the one who paused at the window longest to look at it so fascinated was she by it. She never remembered it snowing like this when she was at home.

As she looked it she felt her heart go up on the air another 100 feet. Christmas day was one of the best days of the year and it was always going to be no matter what.

She had been looking out of the window on her own for a little while when she saw him not that she had been looking. At the end of the road standing before the rubble that she knew had once been the legendry number 13 she said a man.

Just a bit taller than her Nan and grey haired he was pale, too pale if you asked her. His blue checked shirt was hanging out of his jeans and he looked if he was just like everyone else very much saddened by the events which had over taken their lives.

And she knew him. She knew who he was as soon as she saw him ... she knew him by heart. That was why she knew he could not really be there because it was not possibly was it? He had been gone for so long. Her dad and her Nan had been to his funeral and they had grieved for him.

Her granddad...

"Chicken come on you are not done with your presents yet," she heard her dad say to her but she did not want to go away from the window for fear of breaking the illusion for that was all it could be.

Stan turned as Eddie spoke and he saw his grandchild looking out at him and he gave a sad smile before he turned away and she knew it was not her he had come for but her grandmother.

Knowing that if she said something no one was going to believe her anyway, she went back to the sofa and opened the few presents that remained on her pile wondering if Hilda could see spirits and if that was what she had just done.

What else could it have been she asked herself with a smile?

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	15. Chapter 14

**Chapter 15**

Dawn came down the stairs in a new warm red jumper and a pair of jeans, after she had had a shower 'in aid of Christmas' as her grandma had said it so delicately.

Her dad had on the jumper she had got for him she noted and she betted he had put a pair of the socks on as well. It had been neither imaginative nor original but she had had no help from any quarter when it had come to getting him a present that year and so she had just had to take a good guess at what to get him and had ended up at what she had got for him for the last decade.

Maybe next year she would have a better idea... but then if for the last 20 years she had had no idea, then she was not likely too next was she?

"Sally, can I do anything to help out?" she asked her hostess who was managing to just about keep the stress she was feeling inside.

"Love, it would be a big help if you were to lay the table for us all," she said as she nodded to the knifed and forks as well as the plates which were out but just had to be set out on the table and with a wordless nod she got on with what she had been asked to do.

"See, she is a good girl you're Dawn!" Sally said as she went into the controversy where Hilda was wiling away the morning with the new novel she had been given by her surrogate son. A nice historical one by Elizabeth Chadwick who she had become quite a fan of since she had slowed down a little (not that she liked to say she had slowed down).

Or at least she had until it had all seemed to kick if for her all at once.

"I know that," she said as she looked through the window to see she was getting on with the task she had been set and she was one again reminded of the fact that she was only ever hard on the girl because she did love her and she hoped she knew that was the case.

She was sure she did. It was the same for her. She was only ever quick tongue and cheeky with her because she loved her... or she knew she would get away with it.

It was all good natured.

"That reminds me Sally do you know who that young man who was making puppy dog eyes at her in the pub was," she asked with a smile. She knew it was different to how it had been when she had been young, but she was looking forward to the day when she was happy in the knowledge that Dawn had settled down with a nice young man who was going to take care of her.

Dawn did not much seem the type for settling down yet, and she knew Eddie would not allow it either. She had her spirit about her and she had a feeling that was going to prevent her from being wooed too easily. And she did not want her to rush into it per se. No, she wanted her to know she was marrying the right man when she walked up the aisle. And god it had to be a_ good_ man. She did not want her to end up with a Stan because she knew they were so different. She did not think she would be able to take it and then she would divorce... and Hilda did not think she would ever see her in the same light if she did that. She knew plenty of people did divorce... and some with good reason she thought as she looked at poor Sally.

But she was not going to have known of it in their family and she hoped she had made that clear to Dawn over the years.

She knew it would break her father's heart as well if she did after all he did with Marion to try and keep them all together. Whenever she thought of what that woman had done to him she disliked her just a little more for it even though it was all over and done with now.

"Oh yes I do and I meant to talk to you about that," Sally said as she sat down for a moment. Not that she had time to but that she felt it had to be said and she did not want to forget.

"That was the Tyrone I was telling you about." She said with raised eye brows and all the implications she had not said came out to Hilda who took in a sharp intake of breathe and sighed. So that had been the poor man who had had his son taken off of him and who had been betrayed by his wife.

The poor boy...

But just because she felt pity for him, it did not mean she wanted him sniffing about her Dawn. After everything she had been through she did not need to be the strong one but she needed someone who was going to be willing to look after and comfort her a little. Someone who was going to make her laugh and take her for a pizza. She needed a man who was going to dote on her a little; not one who was going to be crying on her shoulder. In the end, she had softened to Sally for Kevin but she did not think she was going to soften to Tyrone for her granddaughter. Not now. No, he was going to have to look elsewhere for his rebound for it was not going to be her girl.

"Thank you for the warning, Sally."

"Do you me to talk to her?" she asked with raised eye brows, knowing that if she had taken the back roads with the girls a few times when they had liked some one a little more then she might have like them too, she may have got further to making them see sense but Hilda shook her head.

"No - I can do it tactfully if have to and besides, I do like to think she listens to me and she knows I have always had her best interests at heart. I do wonder if I should tell Eddie but I think maybe I can deal with it," She said with a sad smile. She had picked up that he had not much liked the lad looking at his daughter when they had been in the pub, but then what father did?

And he had always been on the protective side. She was his only child after all.

"He wants to see her as his little girl for ever doesn't he?" she said. He was a kind man – she knew that if she had picked up on very little else since she had met him and Hilda sighed. She wished Sally and Eddie had had a chance to met before he had got into his shell a bit. He was not the same man he had been before he had lost his wife, she had to admit it.

"Even the worst father don't like to think of their baby girls growing up I don't think. When I remember the way that Stan could be with our two girls when he was in a good mood it breaks my heart..." she sighed quietly. He could have been a better father of he had tried a little harder.

And she could have been a better mother as well if she had been less concerned about being a good wife as her daughter had told her when they had had a rather heated argument once. But then she had always resented the place in her heart where Stan sat. Where he was always going to sit.

Ever since the day when they had met – ever since then, she knew she had not had made enough room in her heart for other people or enough time for them when he had been alive. Yet she had been besotted when she had been a girl, and when she had grown. She had never fallen out of love with him.

"I think Kevin still sees our two as his little girls," Sally sighed and she looked saddened.

She had said she was not going tell but she knew Hilda was not the gossip she had been when she had been a young women. Her eyes must have said it. And she would not gossip over this...

"So you know what you are going to do then my darling," she said as she took her hand to show her support. She was not going to crucify her for doing what she had to do if she did have to do this.

Sally nodded. "I don't want anyone else to know yet but I am not going to be taking him back. Do you think I am doing the right thing Hilda?"

"Does it feel right to you?" she said her book utterly forgotten and Sally nodded. She almost felt relieved now she knew what she was going to be doing with her life.

"I think it does. I know I am going to have a lot of time on my hand and I know I am going to be scared. But it is better living wondering where he is and what he doing all hour's god sends." She shrugged, "and as much as I love babies, as much as the next women, I do not want to raise my husband's fancy pieces."

"Well, I can't criticize you for that. As long as you are happy then I am going to be with you on this Sally, you know I am, but I do think if this is what you are going to do when today is done you have to tell your girls as soon as Christmas is over. You must tell Kevin too so the lot of you can get on with what are going to be your lives from now on," she said softly and Sally nodded once more as she took a deep breath. They were on the edge of something new and it was beginning to excite her.

XXXXX

When they were done with Christmas dinner, everyone agreed that Sally was a wonderful cook as well as hostess and she had done them all proud with their dinner. She would have thought that they were just saying to keep her spirits up but the fact that the plates were clean said something else.

There was not so much as a morsel left.

As she watched her daughters and her guests go into the living room she felt peace she had not felt since the train crash fill her heart and it made her so happy she could not say.

Rita on seeing this knew what she had already told Hilda; that she was not going to go back to Kevin. When she had seen her in the days before she had just looked so on edge and now she looked as if she was happy with the world again and she was most ready to take it on, no matter what it had coming for her.

The lot of them turned on the TV to see that _Jingle All The Way_ was on – it was a film made to while away the afternoon on a very full stomach, Sally thought and they were all so full they had said they were willing to wait a while for their pudding so they could really enjoy it. That did not stop the sweets and the chocolates Rita had brought from going round the living room.

"So Hilda what is next for you all after Christmas?" said Rita to her as the kids and Eddie got engrossed in the telly.

The elder women shrugged. She could not say that she was ready or happy to go back to Bury after she had been in Weatherfield for a time once more.

She had not been this much at home in such a long time and she knew it was foolish but she felt as if she was so much closer to Stan when she was here and she had to be close to him at her time of life. She knew it is not going to be long until they are together once more.

But she had no thoughts of going anywhere yet when she was still needed by her family. When she did go she liked to think he was going to come and get her if it was not too much trouble for him – knowing him he was going to resent the time he would have to spend out of the big Rovers in the sky though.

No, had she been asked a month or so ago she might have said she was ready to go to him but she had a lot to do yet, she could see that, and there were a lot of people relying on her once more including Sally. She could not say how glad she was the pair of them have found one another again.

"If I am honest, I do not know," she said as she looked at Eddie wondering what he would say if she told him she wanted them to stay round there. She would of course go back if he said he really did not want to stay for no matter how much the other meant to her she knew she had to stay with him and Dawn. They were the ones who really meant the world to her and in so many ways they were the only family she was going to need from then till the time came.

Dawn and Eddie both needed mothering still. They needed her.

But this was her home.

"Is it that obvious?" she asked knowing that if she had to asked she must of picked up on the fact that she was not so keen on going back to where she had come from before she had come to her real home for Christmas.

"You know as well as I do that once you live were Weatherfield is in your bones as much as your DNA is in your blood. There are not many places in the world you can say that about, chuck, but it is true for this street and Hilda I am telling you no matter what you say it has not been the same since you left and it would welcome you back with open arms." She said with a wink leaving her with more food for thought.

It was later on that night that Dawn saw her grandmother looking out of the window on to the snow. Early on they had all stood at a window admiring it for they knew they were not going to have long to enjoy it before it was rained away for they did live in England. But as the day drew to a close and the temperature outside once more plummeted te snowflakes once more begun to fall. Looking up at the lamp post she watched them all against the light and she felt – she felt as if she was home...

She had plenty going on in her head what with how she was going to tell Eddie she wanted to stay and everything Sally had said to her.

It was all going to work itself out, for it always did in the end but if it did not then she was going to make sure she was there to help it on its way.

Magician Weatherfield... she felt as if it had brought her back to life and she had to agree with all Rita had said for once because she had been. This street was more part of her more than she wanted to admit. That was why she had had to come back to it when she had heard what had gone on. It was as if it was part of her family or something she thought.

She knew she was going soft in her old age but there were a lot worse things to do she shrugged it off as she continued to look out.

And it was then that he caught her eye.

XXXXX

Dawn had been sitting at the table when she had seen her Nan go to the window. Her dad had always been a big card player around the holiday season so she and Sian and Sophie had sat down with him to give him a game of Chase the Ace which she had to admit was one of her favourites.

It had not been long before Emily, Norris and Rita had seen what they were doing and they had come over to play as well.

But when she saw her Nan go to the window she did not want to take her eyes off of her for she knew if what she had seen earlier had been true then something incredibly was going to happen. And sure enough just as she begun to give up hope her Nan could see what she had, Hilda rushed to the door.

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	16. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

_Have yourself a merry little Christmas._

He had been there waiting to say merry Christmas for the entire day and he had not got sick of waiting for her - as Stan saw Hilda coming to him, at once he felt a lump form in to his throat. He was not the man he had been once he thought but then that was what being dead for twenty odd years did to you.

But when he had been told he had the chance to go back and visit he had had to go to her. He knew she was not ready to come back to him yet; but he had had to be with her for he missed her so much. She had to know she was not the only one who was counting off the endurable days till they were going to be together forever once more.

Their vows had meant something stronger than they did to most he remembered.

"Stan Ogden, do you know I have now live without you longer than I lived with you?" she said. No soft greeting then he mused.

It was of the greatest sadness to him that he did know that fact and he resented it.

Not wanting to say anything else cutting, for she saw by the look on his face that that was not how he had wished her to greet him – it was _all over _his face. And she did not want to talk, for they had never been life's greatest conversationalists. But she did want him to hold her. How she had ached for him as she grew older.

And it was physically now as well as emotionally.

"Treasure," he said as he held her. The two of them outside their little palace.

"Ee chuck maybe the pair of us should have forgot the council and said we were going to leave it as number 12 A – it may have had a little more luck!" he said laughingly as he held her to his chest and he knew she did not want him to make joke in the little time they had together.

"How long can you stay?"

"A while yet my darling, but I don't think you should. Your going to catch cold and you've got your house slippers on chuck, what's that all about?" he teased her as he placed a kiss on her forehead glad when she had seen him at last she had come to him so fast. She could not know how much he missed her for he had never said to her enough when he had been alive how much he had always adored her even when he had been letting her down and upsetting her. But he had.

"Don't you worry about me," She said as she held on to him and only drew aback to drink in his face. How had it been so long and why had it been so long? "Oh, Stan ,you lump." She said as she laughed and he brushed a bit of hair out her face.

"Took yer curlers out for Christmas did yer?" he asked with the grin that he knew had always melted her heart and she laugh as she nodded.

"I knew if I came back here then you would find a way to come back to me. Just for a moment... yer waiting, aren't you? You'll wait a little longer yet?" she asked and he nodded.

"I see fer me self yer still have lot on yer hands," He said and she nodded.

"I wish we had a bit more time – oh Stan, I wanna tell yer everything chuck, it has all been so hard on us all. But it is going to come round as it always does," she said with a nod and a knowing glint in his eyes that told her she did not have to tell him much for he had been watching her and he knew what had been getting to her.

"Well, I think with the way you are coping with it all so far you are all going to be just fine." he nodded. "and I know you think he is not going to be able to cope with out yer when the time does eventually come, but I think out Eddie is doing very well so you needn't worry yer noodle about him so much our Hilda," Stan put in his two pence. "As for that grandchild of ours, I think she is going to be ok as well as long as she does keep listening to you and her dad." He told her but he did not look so sure about that one.

He had not been so good when his older girl had been a teenager so he did not know how to judge Eddie's.

"But that is just it, isn't it? She is at an age when it could all go right for her if she does as she is meant to or she might go her own way and everything Marion and Eddie did for her over the years might prove out to be for nothing." she said with a shake of her head. "Oh, that Marion was a wicked creature Stan. That was when I needed you to come and see me, lad. Oh, I was so angry when she did it and I was even angrier when he was soft enough to take her back."

She knew what she had thought about divorce in the family earlier when she had been thinking about it but if he had said he was going to up and leave then she would have been behind him.

As if he had been able to read her thoughts, Stan gave her a squeeze.

"Aye, I know. But he had to do what was right fer his kid didn't he? That was why he stayed then love, it were not fer, her was it?" he asked with raised eye brows.

"And what about this caper with Sally and Kevin." He had not had a chance to met the pair of them but if he had been watching her then he was going to have some idea she thought to herself

"I think she is doing what she has too. Not that I would have wanted you to do it to me like, not that you would have treasure, but your right in yer thinking times have moved on."

"Yer know what Stanley, I don't think I like you knowing my thoughts, our kid. It is a bit disconcerting."

"Ee, I knew you were going to say that!" He said with a chuckle and in spite of herself she laughed. It had been so long since they had been together and she had missed his laugh – oh, how she had missed it.

"You know they are going to notice you are gone in a minute." He said and they both knew there time was once more coming to an end. "You stick with our Eddie and Dawn, kid, and you are going to be ok, but Hilda, do stay here love. Stay with me." He said as he kissed her lips gently.

She shut her eyes and nodded, agreeing to do what he told her as she had always done when he had been alive – or at least as she had mainly one when she had not been angry with him for trying to pall his latest scam.

"Oh, Stan, I do miss yer chuck. I do," she sighed as she gave him a smile. So many years had tried to come between them but not even death had managed to split the two of the up and that was going to be a continued comfort to her she thought. No matter how bad their life together was, it was always just that little bit better because there were two of them. "And I love yer... and oh Stan I am so, so sorry... I never should have let them take you away to that god awful hospital – I am sorry I weren't there at the end chuck."

"Ahh pet, yer would have worked yourself in to the ground had you not, I know that now - didn't see it at the time mind but then I don't think I saw a lot of what I should of when I were with yer. Pet, you've nothing to be sorry fer – and yer must know I feel fer yer what you feel for me. Two halves of the same unlucky penny we are chuck."

XXX

The rest of the day was spent for Hilda thinking on all her husband had said to her. Had she dreamed he had come back to her if only for a moment? Maybe she thought... and though part of her wanted to shout it from the rough tops and tell everyone she knew that her Stan had come home to her when she had needed him the most, the other part of her wanted to keep it private and between the m two of them. They had been a private pair – some nights she had loved nothing more than shutting the door and the world out so it was just the two of them.

But part of her needed to know it was real and the last thing she wanted was to be told it was not real or to be looked at as if she was mad.

She had been there with her thoughts for quite some time when her grandchild came to her side and gave her a cuddle.

"You must be tired pet," she said as she gave Dawn a kiss on her forehead, why don't you head up to bed?"

Dawn looked up at her and decided that maybe it was just as well she let her Nan mull over the events of the day on her own. She knew she had been on cloud nine when she had seen her granddad but she also knew she needed time to take it all in.

"Have you had a good day?" she asked with a smile.

"Ee, that I have chuck!" She said as she gave her a kiss, everything else that they had to say for one another could await for the morning. "I mean it, off you pop now pet. Bed time."

Knowing better to argue with Hilda when she had been told what to do, Dawn, even though she was no longer a child, nodded and headed to the stairs.

"I am going to bed, night." she called to the conservatory where she knew Eddie was and once he had called back to her she headed up.

Sally, who had been in the kitchen heard, the sigh Eddie let out once his daughter was out of ear shot and went through to the conservatory. He was sat on the sofa and he looked very sad indeed she though and she did not he to ask why.

"It must have been very hard to have your first Christmas without, Marion." She sighed as she sat down buy him and he gave her a nod for he did not trust himself to speak for a moment

"Dawn had a good time and that has to count for something – oh Sally, I do not mean to sound ungrateful love, today were grand..."

"It was just not where you wanted to be if you were honest. It is ok. I mean if I could have what I wanted, I would be with the Kev I thought knew. Not cooking for people I do not know so well... no offense to you neither."

"None taken pet. No, I don't suppose either of us got the Christmas we were really after today did we?" he asked as he looked at her and she knew she could leave the question as rhetorical if she wished to but she also felt as if she had to answer.

"I got the Christmas I tried to piece together." she said to him honestly. His own confession had been refreshing to her. The two of them were parents of young women on the supposed 'right' of life and yet they both were willing to try and keep them 'girls' for just a little while and that was why they had done what they had that day. That was why when they had got up they had painted a smile on their faces and said to the girls they were all going to be ok. "I got the Christmas I was going to have – and you know what, Eddie, it is almost better than the one he would have given me because I know I went out there and I got it for myself." She said and he knew she felt a huge sense of liberation from the look she had on her face. "I know it was real and truthful."

"Good on yer girl." He said as he raised his brandy glass to her before drinking a little.

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	17. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

Boxing Day was spent for the Webster's in there dressing down watching various DVDs and films they had go for Christmas. As they evening drew on Sally and Hilda took over the TV to put on sally's box set of Downton Abbey.

"If only I could get a Mr. Bates of my own hey, Hilda," she said as the episode they had just been watching came to an end. It was all the escapism she needed after the last few weeks.

"Oh really? I think I would like to get an earl of _my_ own," she said with a giggle. "Oh can you imagine living in a house like that one. Wouldn't like to clean it mind..."

"Well, you would have your ladies maids for all that if you were the lady of the house wouldn't you?"

"That's true, chuck!"

"Shall I put on the next episode?"

"Might as well pet." She said with a nod.

"Right well I am going to get a few snacks and a brew before I do," she said as she wondered off to the kitchen to get a refill.

"And we are going to the pub," said Rosie as she and the other girls came down the stairs. Hilda wondered what they had been doing when they had been up there for a while.

"Are you going too?" she asked Dawn who was also now in her jeans and a jumper.

"Well I was planning on it. Is it ok with you?" she asked with raised eye brows.

Hilda sighed. She had hoped she was not going to have to bring up Tyrone that day but she was not going to go Dawn go over to that pub and make a fool of herself.

"Well, I need to talk to you before you do go," She said as she reached for her purse a fished some money out of it for the others. "You three go over and get a round in and Dawn will be there to join you in a moment." She said to the others who wondered what was going on but did not argue.

"What is it?" asked Dawn as she sat down by her. It was not like Hilda to stop her doing something or ask to talk to her when it sounded so serious.

"I do not want you to make a fool of yourself."

"Well, I am not fond of it and I don't see how me doing for a drink with the girls is going to do that," she said with raised eye brows.

"Don't be pert Dawn," she said seriously and she knew she did not want to put up the girls back when she was trying to help her; but she did not want any of her cheek when she was trying to protect her.

Thankfully, Dawn did not go off on one as she had done in the past and she sat down to listen to her Nan who softened. She had not meant to snap but she had had to make it clear she had to listen to her than.

"That lad who were making eyes at yer pet. I think you ought to keep yer distance from him."

Dawn had to let out a sigh of relief. She had thought it was going to be something really serious when her Nan had sat her down.

"I thought – oh, Nan I barely know him there is no need to warn me off of him - at least not yet," she said with a smile.

Her Nan could be a funny thing when she wanted to be.

"Dawn, I spoke to Sally about him. He has been through a very rough time and I do not want to use you, so please for my sake keep your distance chuck."

Even as she said the words she did not think they were going to have the right affect. The girl had always been to head strong her own good and if she was anything like she had been when she had met Stan, then she was going to take no notice of what she said. However, if there was any way she was going to listen to her then she did want to nip it the bud after what her young friend had said to her.

And she knew if the worst did come to the worst then Eddie would back her up.

"Nan, I know you are concerned but it is not as if I even know his name and I don't think I want too. After all if we are going to go back to Bury tomorrow then I am not going to get the chance to act on this supposed romance which I did not even know was flourishing before my eyes," she said to her with a grin and she knew she had not convinced her. "Nan I am not going to go near him if I am with the girls am I?" She said as she got up and went to the door.

"Dawn," she called to her and she gave her what they had referred to over the years as the look.

"She is a little madam and a half at times," sighed Hilda as Dawn walked out the door, leaving her with Sally.

"Did you have a chat to her about Tyrone," she asked her gently. She had heard some of what had gone on over the sound of the kettle boiling but she had not liked to pry when the two of them were having a moment together.

"For all the good it did. I think I might have added more fire to the flame than put her off him," she said with a sigh and wondered if she should have left it to Sally who might have been able to do it with a bit more tact than she had.

"Maybe me and Eddie should follow the girls over?" Sally suggested.

Had she made a bit of better job of talking to her then she might have said yes but – oh she hoped that foolish girl did nothing she was going to regret.

But then she knew she had to made her own mistakes was well. And sometimes girls were just not going to be told if they didn't want to be.

Teenagers thought they knew everything, much to the annoyance of their elders thought they knew everything and though Dawn wasn't a teenager any more, it was not long since she had been one and she was young for her age.

As it was, when she got to the pub Tyrone was not there not that she had a chance to learn his name yet, but she had to say she was a lot more interested in him now then she had been when she had been in there on Christmas eve.

She wondered why she was not to go near him and if it had something to do with everything that had gone on with the train crash.

XXX

The next morning...

Eddie looked at Hilda. He had had to say he had seen it coming a mile off. Ever since they had been in the pub on Christmas Eve since they had been singing together as if they had never left. She had had this look in her eye as if to say it was everything she had ever wanted and so for her to go to him and say she was not ready to go back to Bury and she wasn't sure she was ever going to be, was hardly big news for him.

After all, the protest he had put up over Christmas, he did not think it was so much about the fact they were going to Weatherfield but it was that it was not their own house in Weatherfield ... if they had their own place there then...

He knew it meant if they did go through with it then he was going to have to sell the house where he had raised his daughter and he did not know if she was going to be right keen on that, but in the end he had to say he had never felt as at home as he did on coronation street.

Hilda was so hopeful he was going to say yes. She did not want to make the move back on her own but if he said no then she knew she was going to have too. So much had gone on that she could not go back to the ways things had been going on before she had come back home to Weatherfield.

She had been born in Manchester and that was where she was going to die and she knew now live out her final years.

But she so wanted him on her side.

"Well if we do this then I am going to have to talk to Dawn and see what she wants to do. It is not as if we can tell her what she is to do her at her age." he sighed and he thought it was more than a pity they could not.

He had heard some of what had gone on earlier before he had decided he was not sure if he wanted to know - that was going to be a down side if they were going to move back if Tyrone was as sweet on Dawn as they thought he was.

But then they were probably blowing it was way out of proportion after all the poor lad had only just lost his wife. It was not as if he was going to move on so fast from her was it? Not if he was any sort of man...

"I know it is going to be a wrench for her to leave her friends but I do think it is going to be a good thing for her to make the break." She said to him. Dawn needed to get out of that house, back into a life which a girl her age should be living.

But they were still going to have to go home for that night weren't they?

"I will talk to her when we get home." he said with a wink as he went out to the car with the bags they had brought with them.

"ready for the off my little treasure!" he said as he saw dawn and the other girls walking towards them. In the end, it seemed as if Dawn and Rosie had got to the bottom of their differences if they had indeed been any. It was surprising what a few drinks could do between a few good old northern girls to break the ice and his girl was a good one he knew. He was proud of the way she had coped over the last few days. He had certainly thought they were going to have a few more tears than they had but she had kept her head up and had done him proud – as she always seem to do in the end.

They had got on well enough in the end Dawn guessed.

She nodded to him.

"I am indeed papa. I trust it you enjoyed your muesli?" she said with a bit of what she knew was a mean laugh. He had said he was going to escort the girls to the cafe before he had been reminded to his daughter that he was not meant to have so many fry ups after Christmas.

"Oh, it was so lovely I think I might try and force another bowl down tomorrow."

The sooner he got her back off to college in the mornings the better. Hilda was not going to be so hard on him. She had always been a treasure ever since he had been the lad who had lodged in with them.

He remembered the days when he and Stan had come down to breakfast on the mornings and they had sat down to a proper breakfast. Now there was a women who had been able to keep a man happy with a full stomach and the way to his and Stan's heart in those days had been through there stomach - for him it still was.

He had said to Dawn he was going to cut back but when he had said it he had without thinking and he did not think had he thought it through...

He hadn't thought she was serious!

He had always been a big eater and a big drinker and he knew it was a fault but it was too late to change his ways of a life time now. He enjoyed his small pleasures and he was not going to be giving them up.

But then his daughter was so young and he did not think she knew what it was even like to be kind of _a littl_e bit old.

It was not how the young thought was it? He hadn't thought he was ever going to be old when he had been his daughters age.

Even when they had been through all Dawn had, they wanted to think all was going to be well and everything was going to be well in the end. He was not going to spoil the little innocence she still had.

"Right, you get in there and say bye to Sally. I don't want to have to the traffic on the way back." He said. They had to be on their way back soon if they were going to miss it all and as far as he was concerned suddenly, the sooner they were on their way back to Bury the sooner they could be back to Weatherfield again.

XXX

When they got back to the house Dawn went upstairs to the bathroom and she had a proper shower. There was a lot you could do at your friend's house and she did consider the Webster's to be her friends, but one of the things she did not feel she could do as much as she wanted was to have a nice long shower; one long enough so that it would get the knots out of her shoulder.

It had been a wonderful Christmas in the end and she did not think they were many things she would have changed about it. The best thing had been seeing her grandfather though. She wished she had had a chance to know him.

But she had had a good time and she knew she was going to remember some of the last few days for a long time. It was not only the first Christmas she had had without her mum but it was also the Christmas that she had delved in to her dad's past a little and much like him she had liked what she had found.

She had loved being in the pub which she had heard so much about.

It had been so amazing to go in to what had been his life for a bit and she knew no matter what he said he had had a good time.

It had been as if they had been in a time machine in some respect; of course, it had not been as her father had left it but...

Going back to her room she got the pyjamas off of the radiators where she had left them. She was glad to be home. But there was something gone from it now. When she had been there before Christmas there had been something...

Had it been a sadness? Well, maybe it had been and she wanted to deny it but she could not any more. When she had said what she had said to her dad in the cafe she had let a weight leave her shoulders and she was glad of it.

But the house had lost it magic now it was just the three of them. A huge part of her childhood was gone. And the weird thing was she was ok with that.

She felt as if she had come to terms with it... or at least she was beginning too.

She did not want to mourn it as she had before they had left. She wanted to get on with what was ever next for her and her dad now.

"Dawn are you decent, pet?" she heard her dad asked before he came into the room.

"Yup," she called and gave him a smile as he came into the room and that was when he felt a bit more confident about what he was going to do. He had no idea how she was going to react to this for before – in fact never before in her life – had she even thought about leaving this place. Perhaps if they had spoke about moving in the past then he might have been able to gage a little better how she was going to react to what he was about to say to her but he knew it was no good thinking about the what if.

But then she had been surprising him for a lot longer than he cared to remember. And if he had any luck due then he was going to take it then and see what she said...

"I want to talk to you before you go to bed love," he said to her as he came in and sat on her bed by her side.

"What is it?" she said as she went to his side brushing her hair to one side.

"There was something your Nan said to me when you were out with the rest of the kids this morning and I want to see what you think," He said to her.

"Ok, hit me with it dad?" she asked.

"I think – well I know – she wants to go down to Weatherfield and live there again." He gently said to her. His eyes left her face for a moment. He knew how he felt about it and he did not want to egg her on.

"And she wants us to go with her doesn't she?" she knew what he had been saying even if he had been skirting round it and he nodded.

"What do you think to that our kid?"

"Well, it is a bit of a bomb shell but I am not going to say, I did not see it coming because I did. When we were there – dad, I don't think I have seen her that happy for quite some time." She admitted to him. "or you."

Her Nan to her was a tough old bird and she knew she would never let anything get her down for too long. But even if she had not really known her and her granddad together she knew she had lost a lot of herself when she had lost him. But when she had been there it was as if part of her had been full once more...

It had warmed her to see her grandmother so happy.

What was left with her in Bury?

She knew she had her friends but they were not as important to her as if they had been she thought sadly. And she was not going to blame them for that for she knew it was her fault; she had been the one to shun them when she had lost her mum. She had lost interest in everything and as a result she had been isolated.

And that was why she had had such great time when she had been away from Bury because she had found the social part of herself again and she had not felt as if she was on her own any more. And she did not feel as she fitted there anymore.

"Then I guess we are going to go back with her aren't we because I am not going to be here without her," she told her dad.

He nodded. That was what he had needed her to say. That was what she had had to say for him. Pushing her lips to her forehead he sighed.

"The best daughter in the world kiddo – the very best." He said to her as he kissed her forehead. Had he not had her then he did not know what he would have done. "If you want to stay here then we can you know – babe, don't do it is this is not want you want my pet." He told her softly.

"But dad it is. This is what I want. For you me and nana to be together and to be happy. But if we go to Weatherfield then where are we going to live?" she asked

He had a grin on his face. He had put a lot of thought into this already she thought to herself. Had she said no then his master plan would have been wrecked but as it was...

"I know I might not be thinking straight but before we left I heard that the women who has been living at number 13 is going to leave the street to go to France and live with her mum, " he said and he looked very pensive.

But it was clear what he wanted to do. From the rubble he was going to try and build the old house from the bottom up.

"So you want to go home?" she asked. "Really home."

He nodded.

"Dawn please don't feel as if I am rushing you in to this and if you are not ready to leave this house I understand ... babe you can have as long as you want." he said as he cupped her face.

"Dad, I don't any more time. The longer we stay here the harder it is for us to let go. Mum would not want us to put our life on hols would she? Dad, it just so much that has gone ... but we have to do what she would want for us." she shook her head.

She did not think she would want them to be grieving so much they could not move on. She had found away to let go. And she knew it was ok to do it.

"Dad I want you to be happy more than anything else in the world," she said as he hugged him. "And if I am the best daughter then it is only because I have an amazing dad."

XXX

The New Year came and the snow went away.

As Sally went over to the flat she knew she had something to do. She had taken in what Hilda had said to her on Christmas day and she knew she had to tell Kevin. That whatever they had had once it was gone and she did not think she was ever going to be able to feel what she had for him again.

It had died. What they had had was gone.

He had to know that.

When he came to the door and opened it, he had a lot of hope in his eyes. She had called to say she was going to be coming over.

"Hey Sal," he said as he took her up to the flat.

It was clear he had been living on his own. There was a pile on dishes by the sink but everything else looked pretty clean which was what it had had to be if he was going to be bringing his baby son up there.

When she sat there she realised she felt sick. A huge part of her life had come to an end when she had decided to end her marriage.

But as she looked at Kevin there was only one thought in her mind and that was that she had been so in love with him when she had been young. She had been as old as Rosie was now when they had met and she had been a right gobby little cow. She had been a lot like their daughter was actually. A little brassy. But she hoped she had brought up her child a lot better than her mum and dad had with her and that she had never had to feel that she was worthless as her parents had made her feel.

"How the hell did we get here Kevin? And why did we have to get this stage?" she shook her head. This had been there second chance to make a go of thing and they had still failed. She had thought they were so strong when she had gone in to hospital for her cancer op. She had been such a fool.

She had so believed they were going to be together forever. So believed they were going to grow old together as Hilda had done with her Stan...

"I don't know Sal but you have to know – if I could go back and stop myself doing what I did then I would. There is no one in this world who I love more than I do you and the kids."

"But Jack is your child and he is not mine Kevin and I don't think I can love him as I do the girls. And as long as I feel that way it would be the wrong thing to try and make us work as a family."

She knew it was an awful thing to resent a child – especially when that child was your own godson, but she did not think she could full fill the role she had said she was going too. Not now.

"Can we not at least give it a go? After twenty years there has got to be a lot more to say than this," he begged her.

He knew she was going to be the one who was calling the shots between them but he had to get some say in the end of his marriage, didn't he? And he said he did not want it to and he was never going to want to let her go he did know that much. It had taken an awful lesson for him to learn it but when he had thought he was going to lose her, he had pulled himself together and he had figured out that he should not be looking for more when he had ever thing he was ever going to want right there with him then.

"Sal you don't know how much I need you," he said as he went to her side. He wanted to hold her. He wanted to kiss her and remind her how good they had been.

But she did not need to be reminded. She knew. She recalled. She had loved being with him. He had been her life and it had been amazing. But it was over.

She stepped around.

"There is no way I can stop you from seeing the girls and I would not want to but you have to get it through your head that there is no way we can be as we were." She said to him with a sad smile. She had said she was not going to cry in front of him but when she was so close to him that she could smell him it was hard to keep her resolve. She knew she was going to be stronger than she had been with him.

"But I don't want that. I want you to be there for me and Jack."

"And I wanted you to be a faithful husband and dad only to our girls, but you took that away for me, and from them; the girls were so strong on Christmas day did, you know that? I knew they were missing you but they did the very best they could for me. I am so proud of them Kevin. But I have to be proud of myself as well so... that is why I am here," she said as she paused and she took in the magnitude of what she was going to do before she went any further.

"I want a divorce Kevin. I want this to be over now."

No more doubt. No more delay. It was time.

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	18. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

As she looked up the plans which had been drawn up by the builder for what number 13 could potentially looked like once they had rebuilt it, Hilda felt a lump catch in her throat. She had never thought she was going to be the mistress of that little house again so for Eddie to come to her and say she was going to be indeed – well she had to say it was quite something.

She felt a little more emotional than even she had thought she was going to when Eddie had come to her with the plans in fact. It was a lot to take in.

She had thought to move home but not to the old house. Yet she really was going home – properly.

But then it was going to be a new house really. It was not going to be place she had shared with Stan but she knew it was going to be the next best thing and there was a lot to be said for that. And she knew Eddie was doing it for her more than he was doing it for him.

She had had a lot of time to get over Stan where as he was still trying to figure out if he was grieving for Marion in the right way.

She did have to worry if he was leaving the house the pair of them had shared together for just a little too soon. She had wanted him away from her when she had been alive it was harder to get away from a ghost than a person.

And then she looked at him and she wondered if she understood how he had felt for his wife or rather if she had overestimated it. He had been the sort of boy who had stocked a lot by loyalty when he had been young; she had known that from the off when she and Stan had took him in and that had been why they had been so chuffed to do so.

Because even though he had been a bit of a crook and he had been looked down on by a lot of folk, they had known he had been one of the good ones deep down. It was in the way he had helped with Stan round and in the way he had made sure no matter how little beer money he had was left with, he had always made sure she had got her rent first.

Now, would a lad like that really have stuck by a wife who had been unfaithful unless it were for the sake of his treasured daughter?

She did not think so.

In the time she had been looking at him, he had drawn her attention and he did have an idea of what she was thinking and it made him a little uncomfortable.

No matter what way he looked at it, she had been the longest relationship he had ever had with her a women even if he did look on her as a sort of second mother. It was then hardly surprising that she knew him a lot better than anyone else and he knew that went for his Dawn as well.

She was so young and she had a lot to learn about a lot of things but Hilda was at the other end of the scale.

"I can and I will move on because you are right – what you're thinking, I can see it in your eye - it is what I wanted to do for a long time. I loved him with all me heart but it was not enough Hilda and after everything that went on between us well, I did love her but it was never the same as it had been before I had known what she had done to the lot of us..."

It had not just been him he felt she had cheated on but their daughter and Hilda. It had been the complete betrayal of everything he had thought they were both trying to build had hurt and shocked him so much - so much that he had not thought he was ever going to be able to forgive her.

And in some ways it had been the case.

He did not forgive. But he had seen a way past it and they had been best friends as the pair of them had brought up there bright funny girl together. They had been able to go the loving parent thing together. She was always so on the go that he did not think Dawn had looked too closely.

Yes, he had loved her as Dawn's mum and he felt lost without her.

But to him, the house in Bury was everything he had not wanted from the days when he had been that young lad who had had to learn very early on what it had been to make sacrifice for the sake of your marriage.

He had begun working on the bins when he had been in Weatherfield when he had been living at Hilda and Stan's and he remembered the day he had gone back to them and told them he was going to be on a proper wage. He had been so proud of himself. The reference from Ken had been the clincher he knew and he and Hilda had got into a row when he had said like a fool that number thirteen was hardly a palace when he knew it always had been and always would be for her.

But he had loved it- he had made friends and he had moved in and he had had a drink with the lads. And then he had met Marion and it had been his hope that they were going to move in to number 11. Looking back, he did not know how chuffed she had been about moving in to it when they were going to be so close to Stan and Hilda. Maybe it had been selfish for him to expect her to be happy about moving in next door to the pair he had loved as a mum and a dad.

But to him it had made sense. It had been about the time when poor Stan really had began to suffer with his illness and he and Hilda both knew he had not been putting it on. Already by the time he had moved away, Stan had begun to fade from the man who he was.

He had wanted to stay so that he would be there to help Hilda through what he had no doubt were going to be hard days ahead.

But then when Marion's mother had had the stroke so much had changed, he had had to adapt and he had had to go to be with her. He had left Stan and Hilda.

At the time, he had been so in love that looking back he did not know how inwardly unhappy he had been. Of course, it was then that Marion had been pregnant with his baby so her wish soon turned to his order.

His entire being was centred on the pair of them, Marion and the baby, when he had found out he was going to be a dad. He did not think he had ever been so proud and it had been much unexpected that a fool such as he was going to get a kid.

He had felt as if he had dreamt up this lovely woman who was going to give him a baby.

The only blight had been for him when he had found out he had not been with the Ogden's when Stan had passed – and, then to make matter worst, he had learned that he had been on his own at the time and in hospital.

It was a testament to how much Hilda had struggled because god only knew if there had been any other bloody way to do it then she would have found it. He knew better than any one that she would have moved heaven and earth for that man.

Yet, the fact was they had been moving at the time of the funeral and so Hilda had not managed to contact him – that he had not seen his surrogate dad buried – well, it still brought tears of sorrow to his eyes. He had wanted to be there for Hilda that terrible day and he knew he should have been.

And then Winifred had died. And Marion had been upset and she had clung to Dawn but not to him. And he did not know why she had not been able to turn to him, for he had tried to make sure she knew he was there for her and he was always going to be no matter what.

But he had soon learnt she could not have felt he was there for her because she had turned into what's his faces arms – he hadn't wanted to know his name...

He had wanted to have nothing to do with the horrid affair.

All he had known was it had happened whether he had wanted it to or not and as a result he had felt he had been unable to trust her.

But he had said to her he was not going to let it wreck their baby's child hood and so they had got through it – and they had been great friends once more. But there had been something about them lost that they had never got back after that day and he had given up denying it. They were never – never actually in love with one another again. They only loved one another. And it was not the same thing, not be a long shot.

"I think sometimes things get lost along the way - we have to let them go."

She knew she had to get him out of his thoughts. There was no good to be found in dwelling. Not when for the first time in a long time it felt as if the lot of them had a much brighter future to be looking forward to it.

"Well, you know what? I think the plans for the new number thirteen look just great, chuck. Makes me wish the three of us were able to go back and move in today."

From the look she had on her face, he knew she was not even exaggerating. Maybe she had never found a home for herself in Bury. After all, she had only moved in with them because the poor doctor died. They were the best option.

But now they all had a better one.

"Well, it really is not going to be long and then we are going to be on our way home."

She got a dreamy look on her face as if it was all she had wanted to be told for years.

"Thank god for that chuck!"

"Hey!" a voice called through to them from the hall.

A different Dawn had emerged since they had been back from Weatherfield. She was back to the girl she had been before she had lost her mum – or as much as she could be.

She wore a smile more often though.

"How you doing Pickle?" her dad called out to her as she came round the corner in to the kitchen. "Good day?"

"All signed off from college," she shrugged as she sat herself on his knee as she had done in the old days. She had been more affectionate towards him than ever before since they had been home. Putting her arm about his shoulder, she shrugged. Even though she was young, she had more than enough sense to know that she was closing one chapter of her life and beginning another. And she had enough sense to enjoy it.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" he checked one last time. They had had the plans drawn up and the house was up for sale – soon enough they were going to be sending all the money through. And then they were going to be jumping in to the abyss together. But if she said she did not want to then he would stop in all for her, regardless of Hilda's feelings. Dawn was his priority.

But she wanted to go ahead with it. Building work and construction and decorating. It all seemed in her mind very – bonding together indeed.

"I know you do – and I do too," she said as she gave him a kiss. A new start was what she needed got get over her mother. "Mine is going to be the biggest room right?" she said as she gave her grandmother a cheeky smile.

"No, her majesty over there is going to have the biggest room and then you are, dumpling."

"Aww dad come on you can't take the littleiest room." She had said it for a joke. It was after all going to be his house. He should have the best bedroom.

She did not think it was going to be fair on him to be in the small room but he shook his head.

"Believe me, my love, I think I know you well enough to understand that a twenty off year old girl needs the extra room a lot more than a sixty year old man does," he said as he gave her a kiss.

"Well, it is going to be a while before the lot of us could be in there, so we can talk about it a bit more."

But he knew he did not have to. He really didn't need the space and when she was a growing girl she did.

He and Hilda shared a smile.

"I can't think what it is going to be like living up there but I guess it is going to be different to living here. Not a bad thing." Dawn said as she put the let on and sighed.

She was quite excited to get back there if she was honest; when they were out of the house there lives were going to begin again.

She winked at Eddie and dissolved his own doubts.

XXX

The news they were going to be living up there pleased Sally no end. She liked the lot of them. She had always had a fondness for Hilda and any mother with girls of the same age who met a child without a mum was bound to want to take it under its wing.

She knew she had not seen Dawn when she was at her saddest but she hoped she was going to be able to be there for her from then on. And Eddie had been a laugh as well.

She felt as if she had a lot more peace in life and that she could look to the future. A future which was not going to be including Kevin.

She knew there was no such thing as having too many friends about you and to have three more – well, she was not going to be saying no.

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	19. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

Having left the two women in his life at home packing for the day, Eddie made a solo and quiet return to the street. He had been told he was able to go back into the house or what was left of it and he wanted to do it before Hilda did so he could prepare her. He did not want her to go in thinking it was going to be the house she had left.

Number thirteen really was just a shell of the house it had been when he had lived there with his friends.

"Flaming Nora," he muttered as he realised the size of the job he had taken on. He had been so eager to have a project and to make Hilda happy once more that he had not given a lot of practical thought to it. He had to admit that that was typical of him, just as it had been typical of Stan.

The pair of them had always thought after they did things. Consequences had happened far more than they preparation.

_Teas ready,_ he heard Hilda call in the back of his mind. He and Stan had always scrabbled to the table like school lads when they had heard that cry. It had been the one time of the day she had always held their attention.

And then there were the memories of when he had been with wife in this house. Of the time he had brought her back as it were to meet his folks and then the nights the four of them had drunk away, happy in one another loves and friendship.

Yet for all the memories he knew he would be lying if he did not say he was glad to be back. Because for all the fact it was altered it was still home to him. And it was going to be a home to his daughter and to Hilda as well.

Who would have ever thought he would be back?

He had been standing in the living room reminiscing when he heard a knock on the door.

"I hope I am not intruding," Sally said. "I saw you come in."

"No, no, do come in – get me out of my thoughts. Not a pleasant place to be right now," he said with a slight chuckle but he had been telling her the truth and that was what hurt.

"Come to see the damage to the house?" she asked and he nodded.

"I mean I knew it were in a state but when I think of the way it were – well, I said it enough myself that it was never Buckingham Palace. But it was a right proper home to me when I were living here." He said with a shrug.

It had been easy to let it get to him when he was on how own. He had had to keep it together when he had been there with Hilda and his Dawn... but when he was on his own...

"And it is going to be again, isn't it?"

He nodded. He had to keep that in his head. That they were going to restore it to its former glory. And then they were going to live in it as they had done before.

And for the first time he was going to feel as if he were king of his own castle just as Stan had done when he had been master there.

"Yeah I think it is going to be – or at least I want it to be - for Hilda and Dawn more than myself!"

But then he knew if it were home to the two of them then it was going to be for him. They were his home after all.

Sally could not help but think he looked a little sad as he stood there and as if he longed to get into the walls so that he might be able to crawl back in time when he lived there last.

It was not going to be an easy move back. She wondered how much and what he expected to be the same compared to the last time he had lived there. She had been there – well quite some time - so long that even though she knew the street had changed a lot, she did not seemed to notice it a lot for she had seen it change over the years. But it was not going to be like that for him. The changes were going to be sudden.

Of course, he had to have seen some of them when he had been up for Christmas, but that was not enough time for him to have seen the changes that were going to matter to him the most she did not think.

And she wondered what he was going to make of the people, as well, for again, they had changed since the early eighties.

"It must feel weird for you to be here," she said to him gently and he nodded.

"It does indeed."

It was hard for him to say what he felt for he had never been the best with words. In fact, he had been pretty poor with them at times. He had wished that was not the case but it was. He had the gift of the gab but when it came to the important stuff –

Well he was a man. And he was a northern man as well.

Emotions could at times be as foreign as French food to them.

"They are going to be able to see what you are doing for them. Dawn is a lucky girl – to have you."

He had always thought it was the other way round but when he knew how ill treated her girls had been by there own father he had to say he was inclined to agree. He would never...

"I look after my child the best that I can – is all any of us can do."

XXX

It was with a hard to describe heart that dawn packed up her room. She was sure they were doing the right thing to get out of Bury. It was too much for them to stay there after all which had come to pass and she did not wish to live in the past. She did not want to be stuck in her grief.

And it was only too clear to her as she packed up that if she stayed then that was what she would be.

"I did not know how many pictures we took," she said as she sifted through them.

It had been a long time since she had had a day just with her grandmother. Hilda had been more than willing to help her clear her room when she had asked her too. With her father out the way it seemed the perfect day to do it.

Just outside the room she the boxes stood, waiting to be packed up with her possessions.

Moving to the street was going to be odd indeed.

All her things in a different room.

"Well, why should you chuck? You were just a baby when most of them were taken after all!"

There was a sadness to the girl at that moment that she had not thought to see in her though. It was almost as if she wished she was able to know that time in her life better – or to crawl back into it. A sensation she had felt more than once herself in her life.

Growing up was no easy thing.

Picking up one of herself and dawn Hilda sighed. It could not have been taken more than couple of years after she had lost Stan and it had been during that time she had looked at pictures of the two of them and wished she was able to return to that time.

"You were such a pretty baby Dawn," Hilda gave a rare compliment with a smile before she straightened herself out.

She had learnt a long time ago it did not do to dwell on things which had been. You had to look to the future.

"But come, this is not going to get your room clear all this remising – and your father is going to want to see weave made a mark in it now that he had got this bee in his bonnet - we are going to have to be out the house completely soon."

As she said it she knew that her granddaughter had not been thinking about it a lot. She did not want to think about that part of their life much - as much as she was not going to stop them going and looked forward to it even, she did not wish to think of what was going to become of the old house once she had left it.

"It is odd to think of another family living in these walls isn't it?"

"Very odd indeed."

Hilda reached out for her and put a hand on her shoulder. She did not wish to bring the mood down though part of her felt it was inevitable. Dawn was as sure as she was ever going to be about going – but she was so naive. And she trying to pack up her entire childhood.

She had so far acted as if it was not going to hurt when the time came.

Still that was where she came in as a grandmother to comfort her.

"You'll be well my love. All will be well."

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	20. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

"So we are all going to be living with Sally – it is going to be so cramped!" said Hilda as she realised.

A quick sale on the Bury house had moved things along a lot faster than the Yates had thought it was going to. They had been offered such a good price that Eddie had had to say yes – especially now he know just how much he had to do to number thirteen.

As much as he could have got the same offer – _perhaps_ – if he had waited a little while, he did not wish for them to have the delay. It was only going to allow for cold feet if they were to put off going. There was no guarantee.

Sally had given them somewhere to set up base camp and he was going to take it. If he did not have to make the journey every day when he had to get things done in the house, it was going to go a lot quicker – and then they were going to be in, as weird as the thought was still.

And so two months to the day since Eddie had put the house up for sale his daughter found herself walking around the now empty building she had grown up in.

It did not look, and thus felt less, like her home. It was stripped bare of the reasons she had loved it.

She thought of the journey, the steps she had taken to get to this point in her life – and as she had known they were going to, she felt tears sting at her.

"Hey," she heard her dad say from behind her as he caught her in the room he had shared with his wife for so man years.

"I remember coming in here to sleep between you and mum when I had nightmares," she said as she bit her lip.

She had thought to try and hide the way she was feeling from him that day but as it was she could not. And suddenly she did not know why she had thought she had too at all.

He had always been there for her and she did not think she had ever had any real cause to doubt that. If she had done so, it was due to stuff in her own head, not due to what he had done. And if she said sorry for her tears it was as if she was being sorry for being human and that was something she could not do either.

"Me too – you were shaking like a leaf some times when you had your night frights – went through a spat of them you poor lam!" he said and he looked on her with sadness.

She did not think that was his favourite memory of her childhood.

"The two of you always made me feel better."

He looked on her with a real appreciated of what she had said to him. She knew he had taken on the biggest project of his life – and he had to be nervous over it didn't he?

She wondered if he was wishing her granddad was there to help him take the flak he was going to get from her Nan over the next few months – it was inevitable that he was going to get some. That was the nature of extensions and building.

"I am glad," he said as he looked about the room and she wondered what he was thinking and remembering at that moment – it was indeed a big day for the pair of them.

"I love you daddy."

"Oh I love you too pickle," he said as he crossed the room and cupped her face wondering if she had been as honest over the way she was feeling.

It was a big day for the two of them. There was no going back – not now.

"You have been so brave for me," he praised her as he cuddled her close.

As much as they were close, he was scared she was going to clam back up on him at any given moment as she had done when they had only just lost her mother. It had made what he had had to go through harder and he was not going to let herself bottle up like she had done then ever again.

"I think it is time me and you got going little one," he said as he held on to her and pointed her to the door.

Even though she was glad she had her father and she was always going to be glad of that fact, she wished at that moment she was able to talk to her mum.

To be able to ask her if they were doing the right thing and if she would mind the fact the two of them were selling up so soon. She wondered if, the gods forbid, it had been the other way round and she had lost her father if she would have been so quick to move out.

Bury so much more part of her mother though. Her father was a Liverpudlian after all and if he was not that then he was a Manchester boy at heart.

"Ok," she nodded as the two of them left the house – for the last time.

()()()

By the time they got Sally's, the Sheppard's pie she had been making for them was ready for which the three of them were glad. It had been an emotional day but everything seemed better when there was a good meal in there belly.

And then of course they were going to have so much to look forward too – more so than to look back on. That was what Dawn was focusing on.

"Eddie, you are going to be sleeping on the couch – Hilda, you'll have my bed with me camping out on the floor if that is ok with you and Dawn you are going to be in with Sian and Sophie. Rosie has moved in with Jason for a while."

"Well that is going to be fine with us," said Eddie as he sat down – part of him still could not believe that he was back - and yet he was.

"Let me get you all a drink – I am sure you all have had a bit of a day so far."

Dawn nodded – "we have had a bit of an emotional one but it is better now we're home." She said and saw her father nod approvingly.

"Home it is."

"It is going to be in a few months when we get number thirteen back to the way it was." Hilda said as she sat own wondering if they had done the right thing to come back when it was not yet ready.

It was a bit of an adventure for the kids though.

"Well, we can still at least settle back in to the community – the Rovers," Eddie sighed happily.

And they had to get jobs – the lot.

Home indeed.

"Why did I know you were going to want to go back there?" said Hilda with a laugh.

"Because you know me - that is why."

"Surely you are not going to be able to go in to often what with your Dawn putting you on that diet," she said only hald tongue in cheeks.

Eddie rolled his eyes.

He had not had half the cooked breakfasts he had wanted that year – and he was sure he had cut down on alcohol as well, though he did have to admit to himself he was still having the odd cheeky pint when he knew she was not going to catch him.

"No, he isn't," his daughter said in a very parental tone.

Sally was glad she was going to behave someone to talk to about being a parent to someone who thought they were older than they were.

"He acts as if I am putting him on death row when all I am trying to do is look after him," Dawn said as she came in to the kitchen to help sally with laying the table as she had done when she had been staying with her at Christmas.

"He knows that Dawn – we all do. It is just an odd time in the life of any parents when they realise there baby is trying to take care of them." She was the voice of experience.

She thought after she had said it like that that Dawn looked at her with some fresh understanding.

The girl had to be able to see it from her dad's point of view.

"I guess but in just want to be a bit careful with him you know – he is all I have got since we lost mum and I am going to need him to be there for me for a long time yet. Dads precious to me now." she admitted.

She had not said it out loud before but she had to make her see she was not doing this because she wanted to be some self righteous smug little school girl. She wasn't.

She was just a scared little kid.

"He knows that sweetie – "she said to her with a smile before she looked back into the cupboard. "We are all out of lemonade – do you want to run down the new shop and get some for me?""

"Sure."

Within five minutes she was on her way to the new corner shop on the corner giving her a chance to past the building which was soon going to be her new home.

It was going to be a lot of work but – that made it in to a project didn't it? And then when they did move in it was going to be worth a whole lot more to her.

She stood just at that moment exactly where she had thought she had seen her grandfather at Christmas. She wondered if he had been there – or if she was just going mad at last.

"Your back," she heard a voice from behind her and she turned to see Tyrone. In spite of the fact they had done a lot of looking last time she had been up from Bury the two of them had not got round to talking – yet the fact that he recognised her – his welcoming – well, he had to have been thinking of her didn't he?

"Sorry." he shook his head knowing he had crept up on her.

"Not at all – yes, I am back – and for good this time."

"You are?" she nodded.

"Yeah dad has got number thirteen for is to move into."

His face feel.

"Thirteen?"

"What? You superstitious?" she said with a hint of flirtatious playfulness in her voice. She wondered if given what he had been through if it was appropriate, but she knew from what she had been through, she was sick of being reminded by others about it in every word they said and every move they made about you. Reminded of the grief.

But then she knew she felt a bit stronger about everything despite the morning she had had. If he was not feeling strong then she had to be respect that.

Whether he had wanted them to or not though the corner of his lips turned up into a smile.

She was doing something right.

"Well, not normally but Jack and Vera always used to say the place was fill with bad luck for whoever lives there."

"Did they now?" she said with the smile still playing on her lips. "and who Jack and Vera exactly?"

He opened and closed his mouth more than once and he seemed to be trying to look for the words to tell her - but then he have up with a shrug. "Just an old couple who used to live round here."Maybe it was just too complicated to explain.

"you see the man who lived there died in the tram crash, his wife went mad- before that the Webeters lived there and I suppose the less we say about them the better – and before them a couple lived there for twenty years – apparently they didn't have a stroke of good luck their entire life."

"They had a little."

"Really? You knew them?"

"A little."

"And when did they ever have good, luck?"

"I might be bias – but the day there granddaughter was born."

He looked at her quizzically for a moment before the penny dropped.

"Awww... man, I'm sorry. I'm' not very good at this"

"No, me neither – I have to go and get the lemonade and coke for dinner so," she said as she turned to the shop. "I'll see you around."

"Yeah," he nodded – "well, at least I know they got it wrong – apparently your Nan and granddad got very lucky."

"At least someone did, hey?"

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	21. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

If Dawn had ever had much intention of listen to her Nan where Ty was concerned then the conversation they had had on the way to the shops stopped all that. She knew there was not a lot extraordinary about it – or, about him, if she was honest. He was not the sort of guy who had a million girls all over him and she did not think he was even really the type she had gone for in the past.

But he got her.

And he was easy to flirt with and she wondered if they could just get out and laugh together. Which was something he had clearly thought of too, which was why she found herself with an actual skirt on...

She wanted to laugh.

There was no hanging about when they did get to the street on the house front either – it did not take her dad long to tell them that he was going to be getting builders in as soon as he could, though he planned to be the one oversee it all really.

He had ever been a jack of all trades.

"Dad, can I work on the house till it is done? I mean I know I am going to have to get a job when it is done but until then can I labour on the house?" she said as she came down stairs.

Eddie smile as she returned to her tom boy routes, in spite of her clothes. He had known Dawn was going to want to be involved but with building he was not so sure due to his own experience when he had been among builders that he wanted Dawn in the middle of them.

He was no prude and there was no chance he was ever going to be at is age but that did not mean he wanted his daughter to hear the sort of thing that was talked about on a builders yard.

He remembered when he had been among the lads. He had not been so much prude as crude.

"Dad, it is going to be so much more special that way," he nodded, understanding what she meant. It would be more special to her. He had known that – but part of him wished she was content to decorate.

"We'll see."

"Right I am going to go to the cafe to get a drink before I go and help Sally with the grocery shop. I have left your lunch on the side for you." She said as she picked up her bag.

"I thought that was for the rabbit," he said to her and she gave a mocking laugh.

"Don't even think about getting Nan to do you a fry up. She is under orders now."

"That is going to be the day."

He did not think any one had ever given orders to Hilda really. Even if she had been a worker all her life, she had always dished the orders out.

"Have a good day darling," he said as he kissed her forehead.

"Will do. You too daddy."

On the way out the house she text Sally to tell her where she was going to be when she got out of work. And then she went on her lunch date. With Ty.

He had asked her to meet him for lunch the day before when he had seen her milling about the street trying to find something to do.

By the time, she got there he had ordered to pasta salads for them. Normally he was a man much more after her dad's heart but it seemed everyone who knew her had heard about the diet she was putting her dad on. He wanted to impress her.

As she came into the cafe she was sure she had a look on shock on his face. If he had thought she was not going to come then she had had no idea why but she was going to prove him wrong.

"This is a nice tucked away spot," she commented as she went to the back of the café.

He nodded.

He had hoped she was not going to notice but the fact was they were on Coronation Street and it seemed to him, at times, no one was allowed to have a private life – especially when they needed privacy the most.

If Jack was there then he might have he been able to give it to him but he was gone... And so he had to find another refuge and this girl who had come out of nowhere seemed to him to be as good as any.

She was so green when it came to the street. She had no idea of who he was or what had gone on – she knew of course but she had not been there. She just seemed fresh to him.

And he wanted to impress her as well as keep the respect of his neighbours which he knew he was not going to be able to do if he was seen to be moving on too fast. As much as she had had no respect for him, he did respect the memory of his wife.

But he had to do this and he did not know why.

"I hope you don't mind."

"Not at all," she shook her head. She was just fine they were finally getting round to meeting up even if she did not think he thought of it as a date.

She didn't – after all, they were just two friends meeting for lunch. Or that was what she told herself any way. Deep down, she wanted to believe it was possible for it to be something more.

"How you settle in?" he asked her. It was a nice easy topic to talk to her about. He remembered suddenly how bad he was at the whole dating thing and he did not even know why. On the day he had got married, he had thought to himself, one of the best things was he did not have to play the field any more. He was not going to have any more mucking around – he was just going to live happily ever after with his wife.

And on the day they had been married he had thought she was a princess she had been looking that good.

And it was then that the grief stabbed him afresh and he wondered what the hell he was doing out with another women so soon when he should still be grieving.

"Ty?"

When he looked up he realised she had answered his question and he had not even been listening. She was so pretty with her bright eyes and her red hair and he had thought talking to her was going to be easy.

Just a nice lunch together.

But he knew he was not being much of husband to Mol and not much of a man to Dawn at that moment.

It was not fair on either of them.

"He just run out on me there and then," said Dawn to Sally later that day as they did the shopping. She wished there was someone a might nearer her age who she was able to talk to about all of this and she knew when Sian and Sophie got back they were going to be more than willing to hear her out...

But she just felt as if Sally got what she was saying a bit more. Even if Sophie had lost her dad in some sense she had not felt it the same way her mother had. It was different for her as Kevin was always going to be her father. She was never going to truly lose him.

She did not know the loss she and Sally had of late, though Dawn did not mean to belittle what she had gone through. There were different kinds of loses. It hurt all the same. And the agro she had had with Ty was nothing compared to the loss of her mother and yet...

It did sting, when she had been so hopeful, to be let down.

Sally did not know what to say or to think. She knew Dawn's elders had told her to stay away from him and she had agreed with them. But the one thing she was beginning to understand was the fact that Dawn was a wilful as were her own girls and if they were going to be able to make their own way in the world then they were going to have to be.

But she did not want her to go against her grandmother and her dad. She saw how much they cared for her happiness.

"I know you think the two of you have had something going on from the moment the two of you set eyes on one another but I can't help thinking you would be a lot better off if you were to go out with one of the other lads. Sweetheart he has got so much baggage now."

She remembered when he had been a young lad. He had been so care free and he had had a good home with the Duckworth's. If she had been living on the street then, perhaps the two of them would have been a nice couple - in fact, she was pretty sure the two of them would have been right for one another.

Both of them were as thick as two short planks in the nicest way possible.

"And I haven't?"

"It is not on the same scale as his." sighed Sally and she shrugged her shoulders. If there was a way she could take the pain out of the two of them then she would have. But the thing was - when the two of them were so raw from the past still.

It was not as if the two of them were letting themselves heal before they tried to start something new off. And she knew it was hard for them. Clearly they both believed the other night stop their own pain if only for a while.

And for Dawn maybe it was an understandable. She was after all only just out of the teenage years and she knew from her own experience that the teenage years were some of the hardest any girl had to go through. And she had all the hormones that went along with it as well as losing her mum before it was really Marion's times to go. She knew she was never going to replace the love of her mother. But she was able to be there to guide her – and she would be.

As for Tyrone; she could only guess he was confused of late which was understandable she guessed. Part of her did blame him for leading the girl on; he was nearing thirty and should know better.

But he had lost so much. She knew if she had been able to have some comfort of late then she would have taken it like a shot.

"He has lost a baby as well as a wife and the man he loved as a dad within three months. He does not know what he is doing right now I'd say or what he wants." Sally sighed. "You can't take this personally. But neither so I think you can pursue it if you want the two of you to be something which is going to last. Not yet."

She knew what she was saying for it was the same thing her Nan had said to her when she had been up last time. But she just –

"I like him."

If what Sally was saying was true then she knew she should not take what had happened at lunch personally but it was so hard not to.

He had been the one who had asked her.

He had seemed to like her for who she was and then he had gone all cold on her.

Sally shook her head. She was not sure there was anything harder in the world to do than to get through to a teenage girl at times.

She should know.

"And, I am sure in normal circumstances, he would be head over heels in love with you already. But dawn sweetheart he is grieving for his wife and you have to let him do that."

With nothing else left to say on the matter Sally turned down the isle and hoped the girl would listen to what she had said to her.

If not then she would get her heart broken.

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	22. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21**

"You know you can come to choir with us if you want to," said Sian to dawn as she hand Sophie got ready for the night.

While both she and her girlfriend would be a lot happier if they were to have a room to themselves, at least they were allowed to share a room now they had Dawn in with them. Sally knew they were not going to do anything with her in there with them asides a bit of cuddling.

But Dawn shook her head. She was pretty sure she had taken over enough of their world without going to the one place the two of them got some time on their own as well. She was more than happy to curl up on the sofa with a book.

She was not a big reader on the whole but she had been given the True Blood novels for Christmas and she might as well give them a go she though.

It seemed a shame not too.

Besides she did not much feel as if she wanted to go out after the day she had had. She had been such an idiot to think he had actually wanted to move things on.

She wondered what she had said or did or if Sally was right.

But it was not the eldest Webster woman who was right, she thought to herself. It was her Gran who had had the right idea from the off when she had told her to keep her distance because she had not wanted her to feel as if she was being brought down by him. When they were both grieving and blah blah blah, she thought.

But she had been trying to protect her and she had been right to do so. She had to start listening o her.

"Right, then the two of us are going to see you a bit later," said Sophie and Sian as they left the room hand in hand.

"Have a good night."

She lay on the bed with her book in her hands. She wished... she wished that day had been different.

She had been up there for a while when she heard footsteps coming up the stairs typo see her and she knew who it was going to be before the door opened.

"Hey dad."

He looked at her with a perplexed look. She had said she was going to be happy to go to the street yet ever since they had arrived... and that night in particular... well, he did not want her to go in to her shell once more.

Yet she was so quiet.

"The girls said you did not want to go out with them."

As much as she was sure the pair of Christians would have asked her to go out with them on their own, neither was she surprised to find out her dad had been the real force behind her invite.

"I am sorry to disappoint you." She said as she opened the book – anything to try and get him off of her case.

"Dead Until Dark," he read the title. He did not sound enthusiastic.

"I think is going to be a good read."

"You have never been a bug reader."

"A girl can change and Nan thinks I should read more. You are always telling me I should listen to you her more than I do."

He gave her the playful stern look she had come to understand since she had been a little girl. The one that asked her not to play with him when he was trying to be a good dad to her.

"I'm fine."

"I know you are – but pickle, you need to go out if you are going to get to be close friends with the girls round here and I know you have me and Nan but – but I don't want you lonely."

It wasn't fair to make him worry she knew.

"I'll call Rosie and see if she is up for the Rovers shall I?"

He gave a nod. As much as it was the last place she wanted to be due to Tyrone being there, she was more eager to try and keep her father's mind at rest. She had said she was going to start looking after him more than she had been. And so she would.

Within half an hour she found she was across the round with the elder of the two Webster girls and her boy friend. Neither of them were her sort of people but they were harmless.

And Rosie was at that moment the nearest thing she had to a girl friend.

"What would you do if a guy run out on you when you were at lunch together?" she asked.

"Well one I would ask him who the hell he thought he was and then I would dump him," she said as she supped at her wine.

But the problem was she was pretty sure if the two of them hayed ever been together – well, she didn't think so, and if they had been then she had been the one who had been dumped already. And Rosie was so brass. She was no shrinking violet herself but she did not think that was ever going to be her style either.

"Are we talking about a hypothetical situation?"

"If only."

And at that moment, he walked in. Clearly after the day he had he felt the need to have a drink as well. She had known she was going to be better staying in that night.

If she was to go back, she could say the other two had headed on to a club and she had not been up to it... Either way, she was sinking her pint and getting out of there as soon as she could.

Ty had hoped she was not going to be there. Ty had hoped she would stay away from the pub. And yet Ty had also hoped he was going to get a chance to make it up to her.

He had just got too caught up in his thoughts and his grief.

That was something she was going to understand, wasn't it? She had been there. She was there, the same way he was.

As much as he was embarrassed, he was not ready to give up yet. Behind him, he could feel Tommy pushing him into the pub.

The grandson if the man he had loved as a father had come to him in the time Dawn had been getting sorted in buries and he had been glad of it. Somehow, number eleven did not seem to be the same without a Duckworth inside of it.

He had been drawn to him because of the family connection and the two of them had made fast friends. When he had told him what he had done – well at first he had laughed, but then he had told him to get over to the Webster's and say sorry.

Going into the Rovers, was to give him a bit of Dutch courage. But apparently there was no time for that now.

"Dawn can I explain?"

She looked up at him and considered all what had happened and what she had been told. It was best to leave it something told her.

"Don't even worry about it Ty – there is nothing to explain."

That was the last thing he had wanted to heart. There was so much he had to say to her and he wanted to have his say.

"Please."

She looked across as Rosie for once who had put two together and she wished she had had a blonde moment – no such luck.

"Come on then – I'll get another round in, do you two want another drink?" she asked.

"You know what I do not think we do want to interrupt," said Rosie with a smirk and Dawn rolled her eyes.

"Can I get you two lads one in then?" Why she was offering she did not know. He was the one with the making up to do.

"Dawn – please let me get them," Ty insisted. "Oh this is my friend, Tommy – Tommy Duckworth."

She did not think she had ever seen two boys together who juxtaposed one another so much.

Whereas Ty was slightly – dumpy – and dark haired, this new lad was fair haired and well toned. He looked like far more of a jack the lad than his friend was and he had one of those smiles.

"It is very nice to me you," she said remembering the manners she had been given by her grandmother.

And it was – but she did not feel the pull to this lad she did to Ty. Her eyes crossed to him and she remembered why the two of them had been – well she didn't know. But there was so much kindness in them.

And they said he was sorry.

"It is nice to meet you as well, love," he said as he took her hand and kissed it. He was a charmer as well then. "And you run out o n this beauty when you have got her for yourself for a lunch date. Are you a fool mate?" he said to him and Dawn giggled. She hadn't meant to but she had. It was nice to know there was someone in her corner – not that she put much store by his flattery.

Ty blushed. "You know what, Tommy, I do not think you are needed here, Tyrone sighed as he ordered three pints.

"Yeah," the blonde said as he turned to –

"Tina isn't it?" he asked and the black haired barmaid nodded.

"He has class – he remembers names."

"Oh, I am so glad I have come to a place where people are not judged before they are known." Tommy sighed.

"Oh, guys like him are ten a penny aren't they?" Tina said lingering last words.

"Oh sorry – Dawn, right?" She said with a smile. She had feeling she was going to be getting along with her a lot better than she did Rosie.

The young Yeats nodded.

"Shall we?" Ty asked as he put his hand on the small of her back to guide her over to a table. He was nervous and she could feel it.

"I just wanted to tell you how sorry I was for running out on you today."

She nodded. "I knew that as soon as you walked in – but what I don't know is why." She turned took him in the eye. "You know you don't have to be ashamed of anything; you just have to be honest." She egged him on.

As the two of them sat down she could only think what a little sad puppy he looked.

"I do not know if I can be." he said honestly. After all that had gone on he had hoped he was going to be able to open up to her but now she was asking him to, it was another matter. "Dawn, I like you – I mean – I like you in a way I did not think I would ever feel about any one after Mol, let alone just after two months after she died. On that night I felt as if my heart was ripped out. And then you happened."

He said as he shook his head. He had not thought it was ever, ever going to be possible, not as long as he lived.

"I did love her but what she did to me is not going to go away in a hurry. She lied to me in the worst way she could and yet she kept me in love with her and I do not know how she fooled me – but I honestly," he sighed as he felt the tears he had been fighting all day sting once more. Only a few came out at any given moment. "I was in love with her until the end and that is what you have got to understand dawn. I do like you but –"

"But you are still in love with your wife." She said and she knew she had no right to sound bitter – and so she tried not to be.

What Sally and her gran had said to her was right. She had known it even if she had tried to deny it. But when she was faced with the evidence of what they had said to her she could not.

She only wished he had not even tried to flirt back with her. She had made a fool of herself and he helped her along the way.

"Then why don't we just be friends?" he looked up at her with hopeful eyes. Apparently, he had taken her for Rosie and thought she was going to storm off in a huff. She was glad to see she was able to surprise him.

"What? I thought I was going to get your drink in my face!" he told her.

"As long as you keep being honest with me then why would I do that?" she shrugged before biting her lip. He had been honest with her and – and so now it was her turn to be honest with him.

"I am a lot like you Ty – I genuinely like you and I want to be your friend. We'll see how it goes hey? When you're ready for something more..."

"You are going to be the first one to know."

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	23. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22**

Dawn did not think she had ached so much – well, in her entire life. Everything hurt and she was not exaggerating. But then her dad had warned her that was what was going to come of working on a building site. He had said it was hard physical work every day.

He had known what he was talking about.

She was not sorry that she was doing it even though she was finding it hard work – v_ery _hard. Her hands had never been so cracked as well as dry and she was sure it was not right for someone's back to ache so much when they were not even thirty.

But the pay off was going to be worth it. Not only was she going to be living in a house she had help to build back up but she might even get a job. Owen had said he was impressed with what she was doing.

She knew her dad had been worried when she had begun there that she was not going to be able to keep up with the men. He had also worried she was going to pick up a whole other dictionary of words – but in truth, she had heard nothing new. And when Owen heard bad language when she was about, he was quick to crack down on it. He was the father of two daughters and he had said to Eddie when he had taken her on he was going to look after her as if she was one of them.

He had kept his word.

Every night, as she crossed to the other side of the street she looked forward to the day when she did not have to any more.

It was not that she wasn't happy at number four – it was just that she knew she was not able to settle there as it was never going to be a home to her. It was just some where she was living while they got number thirteen ready. She needed her own space once more. And now they had left it, she was missing the Bury house and she was unable to deny it to herself even if she tried to towards the rest of the world.

Especially her dad. She did not know when she had got so protective over him. Somewhere in between being a bitch to him and leaving Weatherfield for the first – and perhaps – last time she supposed.

He had enough to think about without worrying about her which she knew he was going to do way. He was the only dad she had – heck, he was the only parent she had. And that meant Eddie – well, she was not up for losing him anytime soon.

Returning to the house she smiled to find it relatively empty. Another reason she was looking forward to the completion of number thirteen as the fact it was going to give her a bit of privacy back. It was not that she was ungrateful. It was only that she was a young woman.

"That you, Dawn?" said her grandmother from the kitchen.

"Yup, just me," she confirmed as she took of her steel toe nailed boats. When she had got them they had been so clean – now they looked as if they were a hundred year old.

Construction did that though and she had the sense not to moan about it in front of the lads though. She knew a few of them had not been happy when she had joined the team and she was sure her moaning about dirty boots was going to be the sort of thing they just loved.

"Have a good day, chuck?" said her Nan as she came out to see her.

She was so proud of the way she had got herself a job. In her time, it would not have been proper for a young girl like dawn to be a builder. But she had decided what she had wanted to do and she had done it.

"Yeah, I did though I am a bit tired now," she said as she collapsed on to the sofa.

"I am not surprise you have been working hard. We're so proud of you."

"Well, thank you – but can I appreciate the pride later? – for now if I am honest I just want to appreciate a cuppa."

Hilda rolled her eyes but she went to put the kettle on – she had had plenty of days she had felt thus when she had been a young girl.

"Are you going to be in tonight?"

"I wish I was but Tina is going to have a girly night and I said I was going to go over. I don't feel as if I not go when the two of us are trying to build a friendship."

If she had been back at Bury with her old mates, she knew she would have cried of but the fact was she didn't want to do that. Tina seemed as if she was a really good girl and she had to go over if they were going to form a friendship which was going to be handy.

As much as they were friends, she did not think she was ever going to be able to talk to the younger Webster girl any more than she had been able to with her big sister. It was not the two of them did not get on but she wanted to be with Sian - and she got that. The two of them were girlfriends and they wanted time together – but it just made trying to join their friendship circle harder.

The two of them only had one another it seemed sometimes asides from the people at their church – and she was not the church going kind.

She did not know what her dad had been thinking when he had tried to get her to go and be part of their choir. She did not think asides her Christening; he had ever taken her to church.

Their religion was football.

So Tina seemed her best bet at a girly friend and at the moment, she seemed to be more than willing to fulfil that role.

An hour later, Dawn felt as if she had nearly revived herself from the day. She had had a shower and she had straightened her hair, something which she did not often do due to the time which it too. If it was not so curly she might do it more often... but she had neither the patience or the time.

"Right, I am not going to be late," she said as she came down the stairs to say good bye to the adults.

"You take as long as you want and you have a good time," her father said as she left him.

"So what is going to go on between the two of you know?" asked Tina as dawn finished telling her about what Tyrone had said to her – all that had happened between them when they had first arrived.

At first she had been almost reluctant to tell her. But girl's nights were made for secrets such as those she had just shared.

The two of them sat at opposite ends of Tina's sofa in her flat, Tina on red wine and Dawn with a beer.

"Not a lot actually," Dawn sighed. At first, when he had said he was going to back off, she had wondered if he had really meant it. You heard of on off relationships all the time.

But they were definitely off.

And she did not want to be in that type of relationships. She needed something more than that.

"But the two of you are still friends?"

"Yeah, we are."

"So ... look, I do not mean to be rude or funny Dawn but it is not as if the two of you were ever together. What are you going to do until he gets over Molly? Just wait?"

That had been a concern which had been growing in her mind.

She didn't want to appear as if she had not been serious about him at the time as she had been – but she did want to have fun and a laugh and you could not do that when you were waiting for a widower to fall in love with you.

"You know I want to in a way because I do think he is a good guy."

Tina shook her head. If it was Tommy, she thought she might get it. But she had never thought she was going to see someone this hung up on Tyrone Dobbs. And she did not mean to be cruel. He had been through a lot which only made it odder she had fallen for him.

"But," Dawn shrugged. "I think I want to have fun more."

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	24. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23**

Eddie stepped off the scales. After two months of dieting, he did not see that he was getting far with it. A half a pound loss in the week was not what he had been after. He had thought he was going to lose loads.

The few times he had done well when he had gone home he had made Dawn proud – and he knew she would not say anything bad about a half a pound for it was a loss. It did leave him feeling as if he had let her and himself down.

There were bad weeks and good weeks. But the fact he felt he had been so good through the week made it a bitter pill to taste.

"You know it is going to be ok – you'll do better next week."

Sally and he, to the delight of Hilda, had made fast friends and she had been the one to go with him to meetings.

"I can't bear to think of the ribbing I would get off our Stan if he knew I was going this."

The hardest thing to fit in with all this he had to admit to himself was his ego. He did not think it had ever been that sizeable but he was human – so he did have one. And he always seen worrying over weight as a women's thing and...

"It does not matter what he would have thought. You are doing this for you. Because it is the right thing for you to be doing."

But was he? He did not think he was doing for him, he thought he was doing it for his daughter. If she had not pushed him into it he did not think he would worry over it any more than he had eaten any other point in his life.

He knew she had to be a bit freaked still though.

He did not think seeing your mother's dead body was something anyone got over very quick and if this was helping her in some way then he was going to keep going with it... – but he knew he was not doing it for himself.

It was a quiet trip home. Sally knew from when she had been dieting in the past there were days when you could take people giving you advice and there were those when you couldn't. She could see for herself which one Eddie was going through.

"Why don't I come over and see the house with you?" she said as the two of them pulled back on to the street. It had been a few days since she had been over there. If she was honest with herself though, she knew she was dreading it being done. It was stressful them all living together but it was keeping it nice and busy which was just the way she liked it.

"No, don't trouble yourself pet – I have taken up enough of your day and there are a few things I want to do before I go and see our Dawn. She is going to know something is up if I go over there with this long face."

She nodded gave him a kiss on the cheek and went on her way to the factory as she had to work that afternoon.

As soon as she was out of sight he went to the cafe.

"You know the new bar is going to be opening at the weekend," said Tina as she talked over the bar with Rosie, Jason and Dawn. "I think we should go down to it."

It was a long time since she had had a good night out since Xin was with Graeme so much of the time.

"I think it is a great idea," Dawn nodded. It had taken her a bit of time but she was getting there with settling in to the street. She had a good set of friends her Nan was happier than she had seen her in a long time as was her dad.

The house was going to be done in next to no time at all as well she thought.

Things were on the up.

"And I think if we are going to go, then the two of you should try and get dates for it," Rosie announced.

"Well, this one definitely should." Tina was not going to be unfaithful to Graeme. She knew she was going to be back with him soon. For Dawn, it was very different.

To have a night out might be what she needed.

As for a date she was not so sure that was a bad idea. If she did not get one for herself soon then she knew her grandmother was going to be hell bent on finding a man for her; and then god only knew who she was going to end up with.

But then who?

Tommy perhaps - he had been a good friend as it had turned out even if he was a jack the lad. He might at least just take her so she could get the girls off of her back.

But then that was not going to work because it was not going to satisfy her. It was not just –

She was ready for a romance. She wanted to be romanced. But getting that and wanting it were sometimes two very different things.

"Well, we can see but if not then I am just going to be happy enough to go and get a few drinks down me," she grinned.

And to put on some nice clothes once more which were not covered from yesterdays dust.

"You ok Dawn?" she heard a voice from her side.

"Hey," she said as her dad put his arm about her and gave her a smile.

"How did it go?" she asked quietly.

"Lost another three pounds." He said to her and felt terrible for it. He didn't mean to lie to her – he had not even planned it. But when he had opened his mouth the words had just come out.

He wondered if that had been the way it was for Stan when he had come home from work and he had had no money for Hilda. He had known always, since before the time he had even lived with them that the majority of the arguments they had had were always over money.

It had been no way to live – and so Stan had tried to steer the conversation away from it from time to time to get some peace – and if he had had to do it by ling then so be it.

"Dad that's so good - let me get you a point to celebrate!"

His guilt tripled.

"Now girl, you are looking good tonight, what can I get you to drink?" asked Tommy as he saw Dawn come into the bar. Quite a group of them had come out for the event in the end. She was there were Tina and Tommy as well as Rosie and Jason. She was sure the other girls had wanted to come but as Sian and Sophie were still under age they had not been able to join them.

Tyrone had though.

"Yeah, you do." He agreed.

But it was to Tommy who Dawn knew she was going to pay the attention to that night. Tyrone had said he was not ready and so she was not going to push it.

She had done that already and she had got hurt even though she knew she had had no right to even think that.

"Well, thank you. Do I look pretty enough for one of you boys to buy me a drink?"

"Absolutely," said the young Duckworth.

Within half an hour Dawn found herself on the dance floor, against her better judgement. She had never been much of a dancer - until she got a couple of pints in her. And then she found it hard to stop even when she knew she should.

Tyrone had been sure he had been doing the right thing when he had said to Dawn they were to wait before staring anything.

And in his heart, he still knew it had been right, for part of him was still in love with Molly and was always going to be. But as he watched her in the arms of his friend he was finding it hard and he could not deny it.

The ways he moved in his arm was not very graceful but he found he wished they were his arms she was turning in, her hips swaying with the music, almost in time.

He recalled the way she had looked at him when the two of them had first set eyes on one another and he knew it could not be much further from the way she had looked at him that night.

She had been polite when he had spoken to her but she was no longer... as warm as she had been when the two of them had first met and bonded without even having to talk.

She was not as lost as he was – not any more. Maybe it was because she had had her new goals but he knew – or at least he guessed, she was not mourning as deeply as he was any more.

But then he was looking at her with desire and he knew it. Maybe he was not mourning as deeply as he should be. And he knew there were a million different ways to grieve. It was not fair of him to cast judgement on the way she was acting.

But with the beer in him and what not –

It annoyed him. He could think of a millions words to call her at that moment and none of them were the words he had associated with her before that night.

It felt as if he was watching his wife with Kevin as odd as it was.

He barely knew Tommy and he had hardly knew Dawn. But it felt – it reminded him...

Which wasn't fair or right on them. But it was the way it was.

He had to get out of there if he was not going to destroy the friendships he was building with them completely.

Though the two of them seemed to be doing a good job of that all on their own.

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	25. Chapter 24

**Chapter 24**

Dawn awoke with a sick feeling in her stomach. She did not know why for a moment and she almost just put it down to the beer she had had the night before. She knew she must have in fact seemed like a ladette.

But no, it was not due to the beer. Well, not all of it.

It was down to the way she had danced with Tommy when Tyrone had been there.

It had been dumb and it had been stupid but it had seemed as if it might be a good idea when she had gone out. Go and show him what he had been missing, she had thought.

Well, most likely the only thing he thought he was missing now was a whore.

Deep down she was a lot more like her grandmother than she cared to admit. She was loyal – and she was loyal to her heart above all else... or at least she tried to be.

But also, like her grandmother, she was no fool. Ty had given her up and he had said he was not going to be with her for a while at least. She had said no vow to him.

He had had no right to look at her as he had; even though part of her did just want to crawl under the covers and hide from what she had done.

XXX

Now that he had the alcohol out of his system, Tyrone could only look back on the night before with shame. Even if she had been flaunting herself in front of him, he had had no right to storm out the bar as he had. He should have risen above it or turned away... but not stormed out.

He had hoped he had not made it obvious but he knew it had been noted by the was Tommy came into the living room the next mortising as it he was nervous he was going to kick off at him.

"You ok?" his guest asked unsurely.

He nodded. "Yeah – last night it was just the drink inside of me, sorry about – well, you know."

"It's fine."

He knew the other apology was not going to be so easy.

"Was Dawn ok after I left?"

"Yeah – I mean, she calmed down a bit."

He hoped that did not mean he had stopped her from having a good time for that was the last thing he would have wanted to do –

Just how big had his ego got?

"Listen, I am sorry for the way I ran out on the two of you last night, it all just got a bit much," he said to him honestly.

He did not like to act like this in front of his new buddy. He did not want him to think he was an idiot but he had to understand. And he had a feeling that he did.

If only Jack was still about, Ty got the feeling he might be able to see his adopted son and his grandson become the brothers he could never have been with Terry or with Paul for that matter.

"Well, if anyone has a right to feel like that it is you," he said with a sigh as he put some bread in the toaster. "But I do want you to know me and Dawn – we were just missing about and having a good time. We both know that it is not going to go anywhere. Not really."

"Are you going to see her again?"

The two of them were in the same boat. They had just got to the street and they were on the lookout for a bit of fun. And it was not as if he was able to say he had not had a good time with her the night before as he had.

She was a good girl who he did not think was going to get to possessive.

"If she wants to go out again then yeah I think we are; I think I hope so." he said gently "if that is going to be o. with you?"

He had no right to stop them for he had said he didn't want to be with her. He guessed all along he had known she was not going to wait at home like a widow until he snapped his fingers.

It had just been a bit to a shock to see her dancing in them arms of another man the night before. He had not thought it was going to hurt him the way that it had.

And he had no way of getting ready for that sensation.

But he had to do the right thing. "Of course, I don't mind mate, –"he said even as he felt the not in his stomaching tightening up once more at the thought of the two of them together. "Just make sure you make that girl happy. God knows she deserved to be."

XXX

Eddie looked at Dawn. Ever since she had said she had had a good time the night before, he knew at least part of her had been lying, for it had been written all over her face.

At times, he knew the girl too well for her liking.

"So are you going to tell me what really went on last night?"

She gave a quick shrug as she got a sandwich ready to take across the road for when she got her tea break. Unless she got her skates on then she knew she was going to be late. Considering the house she was working on was the one she was going to be living in and the fact she lived just across the road, she had no reason to be late.

And she did not like being so either more to the point.

"Dad, I told you. It got a bit messy but I had a good time."

It was all he had to know. "Who went with you?"

"Tina, Rosie, Jason and Tommy. He only just got here as well, you know? It was good to hang out with him. Made me feel a little less like the new girl."

"Well, it is not as if any of them are taking your lunch money is it?" he said with humour in his voice.

"Not at all," she said jovially hoping she had driven him off the subject.

A silence fell for a moment and she had hoped she really had succeeded once more. And yet it was not long until the moment grew awkward.

She turned to face him with her hand on her hip and he was struck by just how much she looked like her mother when she did that.

There were plenty of good memories and he had to hold on to them.

"If there was any trouble, then you know you can talk to me," he told her with a smile but he knew the last thing she wanted to do was that.

Whatever had gone on last night to wind her up was staying secret from him clearly.

"I know, daddy."

"Dawn, if you do not run across the road now, you are not going to be on time," said Hilda, sealing the conversation.

"I am off now Nan," Dawn told her as she gave the two of them a kiss and made for the door.

"Is she alright, chuck?"

"I think so," sighed Eddie.

XXX

Tyrone arrived at work still in an oddly pensive mood, so much so that he was almost nice to Kevin when he got there. He was not ever going to forgive him for what he had taken from him but suddenly all he seemed to be able to think of was the night before.

It was weighing heavy on his mind.

He knew he had to say sorry for Dawn for the way he had looked at her. He was positive she had read the words which had been going through his mind on his face.

He put the kettle on, made himself a brew, told Kevin that the water had just boiled and considered asking how Jack was.

Even though he now knew he had never been a father in the proper sense of the word, he did miss the little lad.

He had been a dad in the ways that mattered he told himself. He had got up in the night and he had been the one changing the nappies. He had taken Jack out for walks in his stroller and he had rocked him to sleep.

He _had_ been a dad. And suddenly he wasn't and as much as he knew Jack was alive and thriving it still felt to him as if the boy had –

He did not think it was a surprise he did not know what to do half the time. He had so much going on in his head and for a while he just wanted it to stop.

And he supposed he had had that in his he had when he had been considering Dawn. She had been through a lot to and he had hoped she wanted it all to stop for a while as well – somehow it had made sense to his mind if they were together then they were going to make it stop for one another.

It had not worked out that way though.

Turning to the front of the garage, he saw her with her lunch box walking over to the house. Considering how much she had had though drink the night before he was kind of shocked she had got up in time to make it into work.

He hoped he was going to catch her eye as he had done plenty of times before in the past and she might give him the chance to say sorry.

He had been an arse and he knew it. But before she had the chance too, Tommy Duckworth came out the corner shop.

XXX

"You pretty much look the way I feel," said Tommy as he walked up to Dawn.

He had been thinking about her most of the morning since he had had the chance to chat to Tyrone about her.

"Don't – why did you let me have that much to drink?" she sighed as she put her head in her hands. She had felt ok until she had got out then the fresh air and it had hit her. She was feeling a little tender and she was literally on her way to work at a building sight for rest of the day. Her life was just wonderful sometimes...

She did not think she was going to be up to much by the end of the day.

"Well, it was not as if you were slowing me down either!"

"We're clearly bad influences on one another."

"Obviously!"

It was then that she really felt his eyes on her. Of course, she had seen them before but he really felt as if he was studying her then.

"Listen, Dawn, I had a great time last night."

"Me too," she nodded. "I mean, from what I remember, we had a pretty great time."

"Yeah – I had no idea you were going to be a little wild when you had a bit of beer in you."

Dawn had the good grace to blush.

"So I was thinking that the two of us night have a great time together one of these days again." Whatever she had been thinking he was going to say, it was not that.

For one thing, she had danced with him as she had, because she had really thought nothing was going to come of it. He seemed as if it was such a play boy that he would not even consider having something more with her.

No strings attached had been how she liked it.

But now he said it she had had a good time - and that was what she had been looking for.

A good time boy who was going to keep her entertained for one night...

But perhaps, maybe also a good time boy who was going to make her laugh and hang out with her on a Friday night and not pull her down into his own mess?

Perhaps she a been so caught up in the idea of her and Ty she had not even given any real though to the fact she and Tommy might make a go of things properly.

She was young free and single and she had no reason in the world to say no...

So why should she?

"Why not?"

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	26. Chapter 25

**Chapter 25**

**Two months on...**

Dawn was in the end surprised how easily she found she was able to fall in love with Tommy after all she had thought when they had first met. He was not overly intelligent and he was not rich, but then neither was she.

And yet he seemed to have a good set of morals and a cheeky smile. He made her laugh more than anyone else. He did not crowd her and yet when the two of them did met up he was more than happy to cuddle her all evening if that was what she wanted.

Two months had passed since he had asked her out and she was so glad she had said yes. As well as going out to the cinema and to restaurants, they had gone to the odd football game together. She found they could also stay in comfortably together. Both had cooked for the other and he had made a good impression on both her Nan and her father. He was the sort of guy they had hoped she was going to fall for in the end.

And fall for him she had.

He was more than a charmer and a jack the lad. She had found a faithful man as well as a friend in him.

As her third month on the street came to an end she happier than she had been in a very long time – not only was her love life taking her to places she had never been before but within the week she was going to be in her new home. For good.

It was not all decorated yet of course and there was a lot of work to do – but her dad, her Nan and herself were more than ready to get out of the Webster's and Sian's hair.

They had been the best friends ever to them and they were always going to be. But they did not want to run that by out staying their welcome.

"And the idea was always that we had a house of our own to go too," joked Eddie as once more the sat round the crowded dinner table. Even Sally had to say she was looking forward to having a little elbow room once more.

"I am half going to miss you when you though," she admitted.

"Mum, what are you on about? It is not as if they are going off to tim buck two is it? They are only going to be across the road!" laughed Sophie.

"Yeah, but it is not going to be the same as it at the moment is it?"

She felt as if she had found a best friend in Eddie, a mum in Hilda and a third or fourth daughter in Dawn... that was the sort of thing you did miss.

Eddie looked across to Dawn and smile at her laughing too.

"Are you happy now?" he asked her as the two of them sat on the sofa later that evening.

At last she felt as if she was able to say to him with a true heart she most certainly was.

"It feels as if I have come full circle somehow and I have hit the plateaux I was searching for after we lost mum."

Marion's early death, her daughter knew, was going to be a source of sadness to her until the day she died. In fact she did not know if she could say she was ever going to make her peace with the fact her mum was not with her any more.

That was not the sort of thing you could make peace with.

You could only accept it and struggle to move on... as she would want her to.

And yet Dawn knew it was not a time for sadness. It was a time for great joy.

Her dad and her Nan were well. She was in a happy as well as a loving relationship and they were soon going to be in their own house.

There was only one thing that could make her situation better.

"I am going to go and see Owen and see if he will take me on full time."

Well, Eddie could not say he was by any means surprised. She had had to work hard to make sure the men she was working with respected her. She had had to really put her back in to it. And she had got that respect, he was sure of it. Despite the fact her hands were so rough she had enjoyed it. If she loved it and she was good at it he did not see any really reason why she should not carry on.

Dawn left the house in her blue plimsolls, a denim skirt she had got when she had gone shopping with Sian and Sophie earlier that month and a checked shirt with a camie top underneath the next day.

She had said she was not going to change for any one. But Tommy made her feel pretty. He made her want to be pretty.

"Hey Owen," she said as she turned up at the builder's yard.

"You ok lass? Here for your pay slip. I'll just get it for you..."

"Well - no, but yeah it would be great," He looked at her quizzically. "What I really want is for you to take me on full time." She said as she watched a smirk came on to his face.

"Okay – three good reasons Dawn, why should I keep you on?"

"One, I love my job and I am a good at it. Two, I worked like a trooper and I know you think it was because I was going to move into the house when we were done... but it was a lot more than that. It was cause I enjoyed and three; I do make a mean brew in the morning."

Owen assessed the girl. She had had a lot of fun and been a pleasure to work with. She had been punctual and she had worked hard but the work she had done had not always been flawless. At the end of each week if he had been honest, he found her sloppy at times.

But if he did not take her on, then she was never going to have a chance to get better was she?

Besides if he did not give her a job then he was pretty sure she was just going to hand out her CV to the other builders about town and he did not want her to be taken on or in even by any cowboys.

"Ok, well let's see how the next job goes. _For now _Dawn, you're hired, but you're going to have to up your game. Now let me get you that pay packet of yours."

It was not the answer she had wanted but it meant she had a job for a while which was something. She couldn't reality argue with it.

Turning back the way she came she had been on her way to the house when she saw Tommy and Tyrone walking towards her. The elder of the two looked at her, perhaps a little shy.

There were some days when Ty seemed to be better at coping than others.

Apparently he was having an off day. She still had them over her mum, even if that day was not one of them though.

Tommy did not notice though.

"And how is the most beautiful girl on the street today?" he said as he walked up to her with his arms wide open.

She knew it was a silly thing but even his little compliment made her grin now. Whereas when they had met they had seemed so empty to her, she know felt as if she could truly believe what he said to her.

It was as if he believed it.

"She is very good and she has just to got herself a bit more work with Owen at least." The night before when the two of them had been at the pub she had told him she was going to try and get a bit more.

"That is great news princess." He said as he kissed her forehead. "Why don't I buy you a sticky bun to celebrate?"

"I think that is a good idea,"

She let him put her arm about her and kiss her forehead for a second time. He had been right. She had been far too quick to judge when they had met. He was sweet and he was kind and he was funny.

And he was hers.

"Have you got a date for moving it?" he asked as he opened the door for her to go into the cafe.

"Yeah, we are going to start moving things across on Saturday and we can start sleeping there and getting everything out of storage and settled in."

"You – you are going to be having a double bed aren't you?" he growled playfully in her ear. It was so low that she was sure Tyrone had not heard the two of them but she still found herself wishing he did not speak about stuff like that in front of him.

But that was irrational.

She did not think about him as she once had and she was happy with Tommy.

She was.

But it was just off to talk about their sex life in front of come on else. Not that they had one yet to speak of.

Still, she did not want to embarrass him. Better that she played along.

"I might." She giggled into his ear. It did not feel like her, but she did it.

00000

Hilda sat at home – well, at Sally's – and she thought on what had occupied her mind for many days again.

The fact that soon enough she was going to be truly home.

She had had many months to get used to the idea and yet part of her felt it was still beyond her comprehension. When she thought of how young she had been when she had come to the street. How young her husband had been.

She knew Eddie was going to do all he could to make it her home for her once more. And yet she had to ask how much he was really going to be able to do that. She knew it was ungrateful. But she knew as well as the others did that building the old house back up was not going to give her Stan back. And well if she was honest with herself which she was trying to be, he had been the one who had really been her home.

Number thirteen was a lot more than bricks and water.

But it was not him.

"How you doing?" said Eddie as he came in with a smile on his face. If she was suddenly getting nervous then it was only too clear he was not.

He was going to go truly home no matter happened as his home was his girl.

"Aye I am," she knew if she said to him the real way she was feeling then she might sound ungrateful – and she did not wish to. Not when he tried so hard.

And no matter what else he had done through the years, he had always tried.

Well, with most things. She knew this so called diet his daughter had put him on was causing him a bit more trouble than it was worth.

Dawn was a lot better with her dad than she had been just after the death of her mother. Even Hilda saw how eager she was too please him and the fact that she had made an effort to do so. Especially since they had made the move.

She wanted to be a good daughter – and she was.

But it was just the way she spoke to him at times and the way she treated him as if he was a little boy. She knew at times she was as guilty as Dawn of that. Eddie was the sort of person you did want to look after for he was not always as bright as perhaps he should be... He got ideas and schemes but...

It was just the controlling aspect of Dawn that she did not always agree with despite the deep love she had for her grandchild.

She would never dream of speaking to her own father as she did at times.

Especially when it was so clear it made Eddie agitated. True it was less now that Dawn was with Tommy. She had liked the lad since the two of them had met. He had been funny and eager to please her and Eddie at least outwardly. And he succeeded in settling Dawn a little.

"Hilda love, don't suppose you want to make me a sandwich do you?" he said with a mischievous smile.

"Bacon?"

"With a bit of brown sauce?"

That was going to hit the spot he though. It was not as if he had had such a bad week with it and he had been busy. He had to keep his strength up didn't he? Especially with the move. It was going to be on them before they knew it.

She did not want to go behind the back of her granddaughter. But Dawn had to learn that what she said did not always go, even if the girl did have the best of intentions.

Her father was a grown man, and he could eat what he liked.

"Of course love," she sighed as she got to feet. It was going to be nice to have someone to dote on once more.

She had missed it.

_Please review!_


	27. Chapter 26

**Chapter 26**

It was moving day. That was the only thing in Dawn's mind when she woke up on Saturday. When she got in bed that night it was going to be on her own - in her own room. In her own, nice big, double bed.

All the work she had put in, all the hours of planning and chatting and building...

It was pay day.

And she had to get up and get ready for it. There was going to be no slacking allowed that day.

First all they had to get their things into the house before eleven rolled around. That was when the moving van was coming with all the stuff which had been in storage. There was going to be plenty of flat pack furniture to be put together as well as plenty of tea to be made and drunk.

"Come on pickles, Sian, Sophie, let's be having you!" her father called through the door.

The other two she felt sorry for. They had still been asleep and she was sure they could think of a lot more fun things to do on a Saturday than help them move.

Still the two of them were good Christian's girls and they had offered to help.

"Remind me again why we are all getting up at this ungodly hour of the morning?" said Sian as she rolled over on the single bed opposite Sophie's.

Looking down between, she saw Dawn in the middle where she had slept for the past few months on the camp bed. "Because it means by the end of the day the two of you are going to have a room to yourself again."

"Yeah but mum is already talking about moving Sian in to Rosie's old room if she does decide to stay with Jason."

It did seem cruel to Dawn that they had had to put up with her for so long and it looked as if they were not going to get any pay off for there generosity.

"Well perhaps the two of you can talk her round," but she knew as she said it, that was hardly likely. In the time when she had got to know her, the one thing she had got to know about Sally Webster was that once her mind was made up, it was very hard to change it indeed.

"We all know that is unbloody likely."

There was then a quiet peace between the girls as they woke up. It was the one piece of peace they were going to get all day they all knew that. And so they would enjoy it.

"You know I am really grateful for the two you putting up with me for all these months." It was not as if they had had to. But they had been really kind to her.

They had taken her shopping and they had helped her settle in.

"You're welcome mate," Sophie said to her with a smile. "What are friends for?"

She had been sharing a room for so long with one person or another she did not think she would like to be on her own. But the person she wanted to be with the most was Sian.

The two of them shared a secret smile. If Sally was not going to let them go in to the same room for the night then they were just going to have to wait until she was asleep before one of them crept across the landing.

"Come on ladies, there are teas and bacon butties down stairs!" said Sally as she opened the door.

It was quite obvious that they had to get up – otherwise the adults were just going to keep knocking until they were.

Within half an hour, Dawn had eaten, drunk a tea and showered. Before going back downstairs in a checked shirt and jeans, she scanned the room for anything she might not have packed. It was not as if she was not going to be able to run back across the road to get it. But still, she wanted the day to be utterly perfect.

The first face she when she got down the stairs that day was her Nan's, who she had to say looked a little nervous. Her dad on the other hand looked happier than he had done in a long while.

This was the culmination of everything he had been working for – everything he had wanted since Christmas.

When she looked at him, it seemed to her he had got some passion back. He was not just a widower. He was a man. And her was not going to let what had happened before define the future.

Which was how it should be. He had loved her mum, she was never going to have cause to doubt that. And that was why he deserved to be happy. After everything... even though he had had a happy marriage, he could have a happy life without that marriage.

She noted that he had had a bacon sandwich but it was a special day and she did not want to be a nag.

"So here we are daddy – the big day. You ready to go home, Nan?"

Hilda nodded. She guessed she was. She was going to have to be. It was an emotional day for her and she did not want to mess it up for the others.

"Yeah, I am lovely. I am just going to go and finish off packing," she reply as she made for the stairs leaving Eddie with dawn and Sally in her wake,

Dawn looked quizzically at6 her father. "Was it something I said?" she asked with a raised eye brow.

He shook his head.

"I think she is just finding it an odd thought to go back to number thirteen. I don't think it is the sort of thing you get used to. As much as it was the only home she ever had," he paused. It was not often he said something a little deeper and he could not say he liked it much. "It is still going to be number thirteen without Stan."

"It can't be easy. I have not even been alive as long as Nan and granddad were together – I have not even thought of the way today was going to get to her," she said as she recalled the excitement she had been feeling for day.

Maybe she was a tad insensitive.

"Don't you go going after your Nan now young lady," her dad ordered her. Eddie did not want Hilda's pride hurt. He knew that was the last thing they needed to do if they were going to have a good day.

He had been right to tell her though, for if she had her way then she would have gone straight after her...

But then she knew sometimes you needed nothing more than a private moment to have a cry. And it was only after you had had that that you could go on with what you had to do with the rest of the day.

She looked as if she was suddenly very sorry for all she had said about the house to her grandmother of late though. And Eddie knew that was not what Hilda would want either.

"Now none of that long faced nonsense today, my little treasure," he said as he went over to her and put his hands on his shoulder. "You have worked too hard for today to let anything wreck it for you. Am I understood?" he asked.

The two of them had been so worried over since they had got back, he wondered if he had said how proud he was of her enough.

Still, that might be a conversation for the evening.

He kissed her forehead once she had nodded.

"Right we have got to start getting the first lot of the boxes over to beginning with," said Eddie as he took charge. It was then that the front door opened up in the porch. With all the to-ing and fro-ing it had seemed safe enough to sally to leave it on the latch that day.

"Who is that?" asked Sally.

"Only me, I thought you lot wouldn't mind another set of hands today."

Dawn was delighted to see that it was Tommy who had been so thoughtful.

"We are most certainly not going to turn away any sets of hands today," said Eddie impressed. He had met young Tommy's type before – he had been him when he had been a young jack the lad.

He knew if the girl had meant nothing to him then he would not have turned up to help them out; but apparently Dawn did.

As for his daughter whereas at times she had been truly unreadable, at that moment she was not.

"Baby – you don't have to give up your Saturday," she said but the smile on her face told a different story.

"Of course I do!" he said with a shrug as she moved to his side. It was only too easy for him to slide his hand about her waist and kiss her nose affectionately. He did not think he had ever been so grateful that Tyrone had got it so wrong.

Of course, when the two of them had first got together, he had had the feeling that he had always had to be measured against the what could have been.

He had seen it in Dawn's eyes how much she had liked his friend. But that had been part of the fun of getting with her, the challenge. If she had been unattached – if she had been unfeeling, then maybe he would not have wanted her as much as he had.

So he was glad almost she had liked Ty. It had made him sit up and notice her.

And that had lead to him feeling something deep for the first time really. He had had a few girlfriends at school but nothing like this.

Dawn was one of the lads to him.

As much as he was romantic with her, he also felt the two of them could just have a night with a couple of pints and she was not going to go off on one as he knew other women would.

He had fallen in love with his best friend.

"Where do you want me Eddie?"

The first hour of the day was spent carrying the boxes across the road. Thanks to Hilda's well ordered nature every box had a label on it, with which room it was to go in written on.

It was lucky she had had the foresight to do so otherwise things would have got a lot more confusing.

"Where is Dawn's room?" asked Tommy as he came across with the first boxes for his girlfriend's room.

"Up the stairs, second from the left."

Her father had stayed true to what he had said before they had left the old house. She had the biggest room in the new one.

Yet, there was a certain weirdness to that.

"I know has been rebuilt, and repainted and everything else but it is still going to be weird sleeping in here at night knowing this was the room nana shared with granddad for all that time," she said as she got there having followed Tommy up the stairs.

He nodded. He had not thought of it like that.

"Did she say anything about wanting the room back?"

"No, dad and she pretty much agreed it made sense for me to have it being the youngest and with the most stuff."

He nodded – he guessed it made a lot of sense. Sitting down on the bed that had been made put the night before; he took her hand gently, encouraging her to lay beside him.

"You don't mind me helping you guys out today do you? I just knew today was going to be pretty emotional. I wanted to be there for you."

"Why on earth would I mind that? It was lovely. You're lovely," she said as she realised it was the truth.

He had been so kind and sweet to her.

Bending down she gently brushed her lips across his pushing him back on the bed.

He reacted happily to this turn on events she could feel.

"I think you need to calm down or go and get a cold shower. One of the two," she giggled.

"I'll go and get in the shower if you come with me."

She could not help but laugh as he kissed her again.

And then as they lay there she found her head did go to spaces it had not before. They had been together for a while and she was finally willing to believe he did care for her as much as he said he did.

And when he held her – sometimes – it did feel right.

"Dawn, Tommy there are more boxes down here that need to come up," Sophie yelled.

Maybe it was due to her age that she had probably worked out what the two of them were doing and tried to stop the adults catching them.

"You know, when I get settled, maybe we can ask dad if you can stay over."

"I'd like that."

"So would I," she said as she got off the bed and held out her hand to him to get him up.

He was as sweet as he was kind. And now he was a little passionate she had to say she liked that as well.

"Put the kettle on please love," her dad said to her as she came down the stairs.

"Doing it now dad!" she replied as she went through to their new kitchen diner. From what she had gathered it was a little more open plan than it had been when her elders had lived there before.

Going into the kitchen she looked out of the window to see her Nan out there. Once she had put on the kettle she went out to see her. She knew what her dad had said to her but at the same time she remember the way the two of them had been before they had left the old house.

"You okay Nan?" she asked.

As she stood in the court yard her grandmother nodded.

"It is just – well, I can't put it in too words if I am honest with you. I said goodbye to this place. And now I am back and I am trying to decided how I feel."

"You know when I think of the fact we have all been so excited because we have been moving in here – what is really important nana is the fact the three of us are all together. Not the house itself."

For a moment she did not know if she was going to get told not to be impertinent. She never tried to look after her Nan as she did her dad because she knew Hilda would not have it. She had and she was always going to be her own person. She didn't like being spoken to as if she was a child.

But rather than say anything like that, Hilda put her arms about her and held her.

It was brought back to her at that moment that Dawn and Eddie had been her own second chance at mother hood. She had got it so wrong before.

Yet, even though she had been such an awful mother, she now had two people who loved her for herself.

She wondered if her own children would be angry that she had had such a second chance. She was the first to say she did not deserve it. And yet she could not say she was sorry for the way her life had worked out.

She had loved Stan and she had stood by it —and it had been the right thing to do.

Dudley had never been a dutiful son and looking back she did not think she had ever really known Sylvia and Tony. As for Irma... well she wished the two of them were close than they were.

But it was not as if she was going to have a lonely old age.

And that was thanks to Eddie and Dawn.

Kissing her forehead she sighed. "And we always will be. You're right darling."

XXX

"So here he is when all the hard work has been done!" laughed Tommy as he saw Tyrone coming towards the house.

He had brought some flowers for the Yeats – a house warming presents of sorts but he had some hope that Dawn knew they were really for her. Not that he was able to tell her that.

"A hard day mate?" he asked as five o'clock drew on.

At last it seemed as if the pace was slacking. Of course, they were nowhere near settled and they were not going to be for days.

There were boxes all over the floor, half packed, half unpacked. But at the end of the day they were in a home of their own - something they had not been for a while.

"Yeah, they are inside." Tommy nodded towards the door.

Ty was only too aware that Eddie and Hilda hadn't taken to him but there was nothing he could do but go in – after all, Dawn was with Tommy. He knew there was history between the two of them and he was not going to want to call her out so he could see her on her own. Tommy wouldn't take kindly to it, he didn't think.

He knew how special that day was to her though and he had to see her. She had not spoken directly to him about it but he had heard her talking to the others. She had worked so hard and now it was all going to pay off for her.

And it meant she was going to be on the street for a long time to come and he was always going to be very grateful for that.

He knew it was wrong to have such thoughts when she and Tommy were getting on so well - but what if they weren't to stay getting on well again?

He had made a mistake when he had let her go.

And he was not going to try and break them up on purpose and he doubted he could do that.

But what it came down to was he wanted her to know he was there for her still.

"Hello," he said as he went into the living room to observe the scene.

Hilda was in the kitchen trying to put everything back in the same space as it had been before – she had accepted it was not going to be quite the same, not least because there was a new kitchen which was laid out was very different to the one before. But it was going to confuse her if she was in that house and _everything_ was different.

Eddie was having a moments break in the arm chair which had already been put in the living room for him. He remembered when he had been in the living room the arm chair at his place had always been Jacks.

It was just how it was in the north, and he imagined households across England. Daddy got the arm chair.

By his side, on the arm of the chair sat Dawn, smiling affectionately at her dad. One of his hands was in hers.

"Oh hey!" said Dawn as looked up at him and Ty saw she had an expression of surprise on her face that he wished she did not have to wear.

If only he had played his hand differently. He knew he had done the right thing for he had not been thinking straight and yet... the right thing now felt like the wrong thing. "I just wanted to say congratulations."

Dawn looked to her father and then to her Nan and she knew they were not happy with him being there. Even though they did not know the while story of what had gone on between them and were never going to.

She wished the pair of them could be a little less judgemental.

It was not as if they were a great family.

She didn't know what it was with the two of them but they just hadn't taken to him the way they had Tommy.

"Well thanks," she said as she got up and took the flowers from him. "They're really beautiful Ty."

For just a moment before Tommy walked into the room she felt his eyes linger on her as they had done in the part.

She knew he had a lot to say to her - and part of her wanted to hear it. But there was a time and a place and neither of them were right at that moment.

She didn't want to complicate her suddenly happy life.

"The place looks great," he said to her with a smile as her boyfriend through an arm about her.

"It really does – and it feels like home."

_Please review!_

To the person who has asked for more Sophie/Sian. I hope you liked the little bit of them in this chapter! I am afraid there not really going to be major characters in this plot, any more than they already have been, but I might write a story about the two of them one day – just not right now. Thanks for reviewing!


	28. Chapter 27

**Chapter 27**

When Dawn woke up two weeks after they had moved into the house, she rolled over to find she was not in bed alone – she only just remembered when she woke that she had asked her dad if Tommy could stay and he had said yes.

Her Nan had not been happy about it - she had said Dawn ought to wait as she had until she was a married woman – but that had been her own dirty mind running ahead of her.

She had not let Tommy – have his wicked way or whatever. He had not even come over thinking that the two of them might. Well, she had told him they were not going too... he might have harboured a hope.

But nope, they were definitely not doing that. She wasn't Rosie.

She wished she could go and talk to Sally – but she did not even think they were that close yet. Her Nan and her dad were no go areas. There was no one there she was able to talk to about that sort of stuff. And it made her miss her mother more than she had in a long time.

Rolling over, she kissed Tommy on the forehead before she made her way down the stairs. It was a Monday and they all had jobs and work to go to. Her dad had begun driving for street cabs now that the building work was over. He would do the decorating at then weekends.

Before he started on that though, Eddie had suggested they had a house warming. He had never been one to duck out of a good party and he had the sense to foresee it was going to be a lot easier to have it before the decorating got under way.

That way if there were any mishaps then they were not going to matter so much.

Hilda was the only one who had not really been up for it, yet Sally had said she was more than welcome to go back to number four for the night. And she had said she was going to take the offer up.

But it still did not save the question of who she was going to talk to about...

Well.

She supposed she was just going to have to try and figure it all out on her own. It was not as if Tommy was going to be staying over every night though her father had made that clear. It was only occasionally or her grandmother was going to be impossible to live with.

Thinking of the devil...

"You're up even earlier than I am," she said as she went in to the kitchen to find Hilda already sitting up. "Are you ok?"

She nodded as she looked about the old house. Dawn got the feeling that even though she had been there before, in the end Hilda who was having the hardest time settling in. It was funny how life turned out.

"Just thinking," she said as she raised her tea to her lips.

Hilda was beginning to think she had gone mad – she must have done for she had seen her husband at Christmas when she knew he was dead.

And when she had seen him she had thought it was a sign she was meant to come back – and yet it was not her number thirteen. Even if the Muriel came back, it still would not be her house, her street.

She had been too old to start over as she was trying to then. She just had not had the courage to admit it.

"Dangerous," Her granddaughter teased her as she had ever done. There had been more than one time when she had made the same comment to Dawn when she had been pensive.

What had she been thinking really? She should have...

Well, she didn't know. All she did know was that when she had come back to the place she had called home for so many years, the only thing she had really done was reopen an old scar that hurt more than ever just at that moment.

"What are you going to be getting up today then sweet?" she said as she looked up at her granddaughter – not for the first time, she envied her. Dawn was so young still. She was pretty and she had the world at her feet.

At times, she felt so many conflicting emotions for her; but the fact was more than anything she loved her – and she wanted to see her happy. She wanted her to make the most of her youth.

"Well, I have to go to work and then I have to start planning the party and help dad get ready for that. I am probably going to end the day with a swift one. Any plans on your front?"

"No darling. No plans."

XXX

"So, we are going to invite the entire street basically?" said Dawn as she and her dad sat in the cafe together. She had been to work up in Victoria Street that morning and when he had called to met her she had only been too pleased too.

She had been just about ready for a cup of tea.

"Well, you know I was thinking about it and I know we were not here when it came down – but the tram is still having a big affect. Just seems to me that most of the street needs a party. And you know if we were only to invite some of them then the rest are going to turn up any way, eh chuck?" he said to her with a happy sigh.

He was different – a different man since he had become master of his own house again. He was happy and he could relax. And she didn't remember the last time she had seen him as he was then.

"You're probably right dad," she said as she leant over the table and kissed his forehead.

"What's that for?" ever suspicious when it came to her.

"Just for being you - for doing all this," she shrugged.

"It is not all down to me is it though, love? It's the three of us Dawn."

He was far too modest. Her nana could not have made the move happen and had it not been for the move _and_ him, then she would have got caught in a downward spiral she was sure of it.

She paused before she let the words that were in her mouth at that moment flow out.

"I know, but it was you who made it happen. Couldn't have done it without you... Dad, I really miss mum still," she said, the aching in her stomach there from that morning still. The thought she had no one to go to over some issues.

"Aye, I know pet. I know you do," he nodded.

But that had not been the reason the two of them had met over there that day. Yet it was as if she had word vomit. "Mum loved a good party, didn't she?"

"She most certainly did." She didn't want to bring the mood down...

Reaching across the table, he squeezed her hand. He got it – the way she felt. She was sure of that.

So they set a date for the Friday after next. Precious few people worked on the weekends on the street as the factory was shut and it would perhaps be prudent to give them two nights to recover. It was bound to be a big night as far as Eddie was concerned.

There were no light weights in his household.

"Is Nan going to be ok to go over to Sally's that night?"

"Yeah, she said she could go over whenever."

"Dad, Nan is ok, isn't she?"

She knew he wanted to say yes. She could see it in his face – but he couldn't because he was as uncertain about that as she herself was.

"It is very odd to be back for her and I think nana is seeing what is different about the place more than she is seeing what has stayed the same."

"Is there a lot?" she asked curiously.

"I guess there is – the people more than anything else. But then you could say that is the most important thing," Eddie said.

She nodded with sympathy. "I mean, I know this is the place you to lived for so long but I guess what I am going through with it is kinda different. I haven't got any of that. No real memories... I just feel as if it a new place and there is nothing more to it than that."

He nodded and knew that was the best way for it to be. It was all so new to her and that was what she had needed. But things were so new when you were in your early twenties weren't they? Nothing could keep you down for long.

"I know and it is right that you should feel that way about this place. More than anything I want you to be able to see it as a real home for yourself. But if you are worried about Nan then I will try to talk to her."

"I think that is a good idea. I can't stand the thought of her being lonely dad."

"There is no chance of that when we are around."

XXX

Eddie went home not so long after he had met Dawn for lunch. He was not due on back at the cab office until one.

"You here, Hilda love?" he asked as he went into the house.

"I am," She said and he went through to find her sitting down on the sofa. "What is it, chuck?"

"I just wanted to come and see you were alright really," he admitted to her. Sitting opposite he sighed. "When he passed on, before that – I said to Stan I was going to look after you. Don't think I could take it if I was letting him down and did not even know it."

"What are you on about?" she said as she shook her head. "You make me very happy, the pair of you do," she said to him with a smile.

"I know but - you have not been yourself since we have got back in to the house. And I want you to be honest," He sighed.

"You know the lot of us do not do talking about that sort of stuff."

"And this is why you have to be honest with me now and not later," He persisted. "I am not going to be able to talk to you like this again for a while so if I can help you..."

"I wish you could love – but you can't. I do not regret the lot of us coming back and I am so glad that we did," She said to him.

"But it isn't the street you remember," he sighed.

"And it has been brought back to me. It is a lovely thing what you done – but Eddie, this is your and Dawn's number thirteen, not mine. And I am glad to be back and be here. But it is different."

XXX

Eddie could only hope that Hilda was going to settle down. Now he had seen she was unhappy in some way it was not as if he could just ignore it. Even if he could... he loved her as a mother and he had a duty to try and make her happy – as happy as he could.

His suggestion that they were to cancel the party though was not welcomed by her. When she had been younger she had enjoyed a drink and a party as much as the next lass. As far as she was concerned, the show had to go on.

Once they had made sure everyone knew it was on (her father simply asked everyone to come one night when he was in the Rovers) they could only wait for the night to come. The day before Eddie would go and get some drink while Dawn went into town the previous weekend to get a new outfit. If she was to be the hostess then she was sure as hell going to look the part.

"What do you think?" she asked Tina as she showed her the small blue dress she had picked out. She was particularly proud of it as she had brought it with her own pay check, something she had not had the chance to do when she had been at college. She really had begun to felt as if she was taking her life somewhere and moving on with it.

"It's lovely," Her friend said to her with laughter at Dawn's evident delight in her purchase.

It was then that there was a knock on the door. Walking down the stairs in her new frock, Dawn wished she had had time to change – especially when she saw who had come to call through the window.

"Go away you," She knew it was not as if the two of them were getting married but she did not want Tommy to see her until the night of the party. She wanted to blow him away.

She wanted to impress him – she had never had that feeling before. Not like she did then.

"Come on, Dawn, open up the door – please, I need you," Tommy told her and she heard the truth of what he had said in the tone of his voice. He sounded distraught.,.

Opening up as fast she could once she realised how upset he was she barely had a chance to ask him what was wrong before he throw himself in her arms.

"Oh baby," She had never used such a term of endearment for him before – and yet at that moment, it seemed fitting. It felt right. "What is it?"

"Granddad Morton – he's dead, Dawn. He died."

_Please review!_


	29. Chapter 28

**Chapter 28**

Tommy stayed that night. He had said he was going to go back to Tyrone's when he had first to come to give her the news – and yet he found such comfort in the arms of his new sweetheart that he found he could not leave her when he tried to.

They weren't meant to have got this serious. He did not know if they even were for her but she held him as if he was precious to her.

"You know it is not even as if the two of us were very close at the end – you know, Dawn, last time I saw my granddad I yelled at him – and now I am never going to get as chance to say sorry to him."

That was what hurt the most.

The two of them lay on top of her covers in her room on the bed. Both had their nightclothes on. Dawn, a short pair of pyjamas and a vest top and Tommy just a pair of trousers.

Reaching over, she cupped his face before kissing the hand of his she was holding.

"It is not your fault. You had no idea this was going to happen," she said to him.

"But I am never going to get to say sorry to him – which I want to do."

"Wherever he is, he knows you are sorry, babe. And you have to be able to forgive yourself," she told him in a soft tone.

He turned to face her. "Do you think so?"

"It's what I tell myself. You know there are a million and one things I wish I never said to mum. But it is too late to take them back. And so I have to accept that she knew I didn't mean them – and that I was being young and selfish. And hope it's true."

He sighed heavily before putting his head back on the pillow. When she crawled into his arms, he was glad and held her to him for a moment.

"I am going to have to go back to Blackpool for the funeral and stuff," he sighed. "I have to go and be with my grandma."

"Of course, you do. Would you like me to come with you?" she asked looking up at him.

"Right, now I cannot think of anything I would like better but I know my grandma well. No one has ever been good enough for me and you are going to be no exception in her eyes. It is going to be a lot easier for me to go and see her on my own." He shrugged. "I am sorry if that came out as a bit blunt."

With a sad smile on her face, she shook her head.

"If no one has ever been good enough then I am not going to be either and I refuse to be offended. You are quite clearly the favourite grandson," she explained. "She is going to be missing him already. It is more important that you do what is right for her at the moment."

"You are good to me Dawn," he said as he kissed her forehead.

"Why on earth would I be anything else?"

He still counted himself lucky that he had found her though he thought as he took his darling girl back into his arms. He was so glad he had her to talk to.

"Are you sure it ok if I stay tonight?" he said. "I know Hilda feels a little uncomfortable when I do."

"Yes, she does – but she is just going to have to put up with it for tonight for if you were to go then I would feel uncomfortable and so would you more to the point. Stay," She said as she silenced him and his worried with a kiss. "She won't begrudge us tonight – she knows what it is to lose someone you love."

He was going nowhere that night.

XXX

"I think I am going to be up there for a couple of weeks at least so... have a good time at the party ok? I do not want you guys worrying about me," said Tommy as he carried his duffle bag along to the bus stop with Dawn on his arm. Eddie too was walking with them as he was on his way back the cab office.

"Oh, lad, don't be dumb we are going to put off the party until you are back," Eddie said to him as if that had been the obvious course of auction and had been all along which it was to him.

But Tommy shook his head.

"No way, you have said to the street they are going to have a party and that is what they are going to have. Even when I get back, I have a feeling I am going to be pretty low – I am just going to want to have a few quit nights so you guys might as well go ahead so that when I do get back the pair of us can just cuddle up on the sofa."

"I don't think that you mean me and you, lad, so I am just going to go on here," Eddie said as he slapped Tommy on the back. "Good luck with it all, kid. My condolences."

"Thanks Eddie."

"See you when you get back lad," he said as he walked on leaving his daughter and her boy friend to say good bye.

"It is not too late you know – I can run home and pack a bag. I'll come with you." But he shook his head.

Cupping her cheeks, he kissed her forehead. "You know as well as I do that you are going to be needed here. And besides, they cannot have the party without you. You worked so hard."

"I know – but I want you to be there with me. Which I know is really selfish at the moment but it is the way I feel."

"And I am glad that you want me there with you. And I am going to be back as soon as I can!" he said as he kissed her on the forehead once more. "I love you."

"I love you too." it was only when she said the words she realised how true they had become. She had had no intention of failing in love with him.

She was not sure she had even liked him when the two of them had first met – he had been something to do for a few weeks when she had been getting over someone else. But the fact was the two of them had grown into something which neither of them had been looking for. It had just happened. And perhaps that was the best thing about it.

"Text me when you get there ok? I want to know you're alright."

"I will do," he said as he got on the bus which had just pulled up.

Dawn waited by the bus stop until it had gone out of sight and in her heart she wished he had let her go with him. It felt like the sort of thing which might have brought the two of them closer had he let the two of them try.

But then, part of her was glad she had not had to go to another funeral. She had been to enough of late.

It was a confirmation of everything she had begun to believe about the two of them. She really did care for him in a deeper way than she had meant to.

Following the way that had dad had gone back to the house, she found he had left the latch on for her.

He had had the sense to be the kettle on she was glad to see as she came in.

"It is not going to be nice for him, but he is going to be ok," Eddie said to her with a gentle smile.

"I know he is, but it is just going to be a horrible few days for him – and I wish I could be there for him," Dawn admitted to her father.

"Aye – I know, kid. I know."

Running a hand through her hair she pulled back and tried to give him a brave smile. "Well, we are just going to have to do what he wants and get on with stuff here. I am going to go and do a frescos run for Friday night – but let's have a brew first."

XXX

Even as Dawn looked in the mirror on Friday night, she still could not but help feel it was weird that they were going ahead with the party with Tommy away.

She had thought – well, that when they had this party, welcomed this new era in to their lives that he was going to be the one with her.

She wondered if she was selfish when she wished he was there – and then she wondered if she was just normal. He was her man and she was his girl; of course, she was going to want him close.

But it was not as if he had just gone on a holiday was it?

Picking up her mobile in case he text her, she headed down the stairs. She had said good night to her grandmother a while before hand when Hilda had stayed true to her word and vacated the night after giving her and her father plenty of orders about how she expected to find the house the way she had left it in the morning.

As she came in to the living room she smiled as she saw her dad. For once he had got out of his old T shirts and jeans and had put a proper pair of trousers and a shirt on. It was a change but not one that she could deny wasn't entirely welcomed.

He had a smile on his face and he looked years younger.

"Looking good daddio," she said as she came in to the room and he turned to face her.

"So do you – kid, you're looking great, dead smashing," the scouse said with a nod.

"Well, I kind of have to if I am going to be the hostess with the mostess tonight."

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	30. Chapter 29

**Chapter 29**

It was not so long after Dawn had come down the stairs that the guests begun to arrive. Tina was among the first.

"Well, all I am going to say is I think Tommy was mad to go off at a time like this when you are looking so darn good girly."

"To be honest, T, I do not think it was out of choice," said Dawn as she filled up the crisps bowl.

"Well, no, but – you know what I mean," she said with a smile. She knew Dawn was missing Tommy since he had been away and as a result she had been a little snappier even when her friend had tried to compliment her.

All she had to do was raise her eye brow for Dawn to get the message. The young Yeats knew at that moment that had she not been a friend of Tina's then she would have been for it. In the time the two of them had known one another Dawn had gotten used to the fact Tina took no prisoners.

"Yeah, I do – I am sorry if I am being a moody cow. I just wish he was here. And you look good tonight, girl. You know, me and dad asked the doctor to drop in, don't you? He said he might do," said Dawn with a smile as she tried to make up for the way she had been.

"Did he now?" said Tina as she raised her eye brow in such a way that her friend knew it was as welcomed news to her as she had thought it was going to.

As she turned round she saw that the Webster girls had arrived.

Sian, Sophie and Rosie had walked in with Jason – and behind them came in Tyrone.

She did not know if she had been hoping that he would not come or not. The fact the thought had crossed her mind she guessed meant she had been hoping that. And yet when he did walk in...

"Hey," she said to him and the girls. Sophie, Rosie, Sian and Jason all got a kiss on the check from her. "You all ok?"

And that was when she got to him. Did she kiss him or did she not? She wished the two of them had been a bit better at talking so she knew what the hell was going on between them.

But then she did know what was going on with the two of them, didn't she? Absolutely nothing. She was with her boyfriend – who happened to be burying his granddad that week end. She had to say sometimes she was ashamed of the thoughts she had even if she did not act on them.

No, she did not know why she was even having such thoughts. Of course, she was going to give him a kiss on the cheek. He was a friend and he had come to the party. And there was very little else to it.

It was not as if it was going to mean anything either of them.

"Yeah, we are good girl," said Sophie as she and Sian wondered over to get a drink.

It was then that she leaned forward to kiss Ty – and she did not know how it happened when she looked back. Maybe she had turned the wrong way. Or maybe he did. But what ever happened – she did not kiss his check. She kissed his lips.

As soon as she had done it she wished she had not and he turned away as embarrassed as she was, but there was a definite hint of a smile on his lips.

She could only hope it was because the two of them were acting like a couple of stupid teenagers when they were not that at all.

"Look Dawn – I'm sorry."

She nodded as she tried to think of something to say. But there was not a lot she could say to that unless it was to remind him that she was in fact with someone. But it was not as if she had to when the guy she was with was his house mate.

And besides... perhaps it was she who needed reminding of that.

"I think I am going to go and put some music on," she said in an attempt to get away from him and out to the conversation. She just did not want to be there at that moment. And more than that, she so wished that Tommy was there to save her.

From herself. "If you need a drink just go to the kitchen and grab one." she said as she walked over to the stereo.

XXX

As much as he loved her, and he did love her dearly, Eddie did not think he was ever going to be able to understand his daughter.

For the first time in what seemed too long for him, it appeared to him that she was a very happy young girl. And that was all he was ever going to want for his girl – for her to be happy. Yet he had thought Tommy was the one to do that. Ever since the two of them had got together he had felt a lot better about the place where she was at.

He had thought she had as well.

But then apparently the two of them had got it wrong – yet he was going to be damned if he just let her throw it all away for someone who was not going to make her nearly as happy as her present beau would.

He had been about to walk over to her and remind her of the fact she had a grieving boyfriend when he was caught by one of his new neighbours.

"Eileen Grimshaw," the blonde introduce herself to him and despite himself he felt his lips turn in to a smile.

He realised for the first time since his wife had passed, he had let himself think of another woman as attractive. And he felt no guilt for that what so ever.

"Eddie," he nodded in reply and turned back so Dawn. He found her in the middle of the young members of the party dancing as if she did not have a care.

He decided it would be better if he were just to keep an eye on her rather than go and pull her out of the dancing. She did look as if she was having a very good time and he could not see the point of embarrassing the girl.

As for Tyrone, he had seen sense to and he had joined the boys in a drink. He did not know how wise that was but it was not as if he could throw him out on the basis of what he had done so far.

Dawn was so young – she was going to make her mistakes. And one day soon he was going to have to accept that.

He had to let her fight her own battles.

It was then that he felt the first of the pains in his chest.

XXX

It was a lot later on in the night when Dawn went into the backyard to try and get some air. She felt as if she had been dancing all of it – she had barely sat down once, and as a result she had got a little hot.

No one else was out there when she headed out. She had seen her guests going in and out of the door all night and so she was surprised to find it empty but she had to say, she was grateful too.

Sitting down on one of the chairs they had out there, she sighed. If only Tommy was there then she knew she would be having a much better time than she was.

Of course, she was enjoying it. She thought it was great that everyone could see her dad was too. The old familiar faces seemed to be genuinely thrilled he had made his way home and she had no doubts he was going to have a lot of new friends by the end of the night as well.

If she was right, then Eileen from next door had been staying very close to him.

May be it was not time yet but she did hope when the time was right that he would have a new romance.

A romance...

As she looked at the skies her thoughts once more turned to a certain Mr. Duckworth.

She knew it was silly but – well, she hoped he was not too sad. For all he had lost she hoped his spirits were kept up.

Kept up by the thoughts of coming home to her. To the promise of the cosy nights in she was going to have with him when he came back.

Looking at the phone which she had been keeping close all night, she was delighted to see there was indeed a message from him.

_Missing you Dawny - can't wait to be back. Love you lots x x x _

In her mind she replayed the scene which had taken place before he had left for Blackpool. He had said he loved her – she had not realised what a big thing it was at the time. She had been so focused on seeing him off that she had not really thought about what he had said.

But when she had been out that afternoon, she had realised and she felt as if her heart had gone sky high on the words.

He loved her – he was genuinely in love with her.

It had made her feel like nothing else.

And suddenly she felt silly for the way she had been about Tyrone earlier that night. She had let herself stew up over something which was truly nothing.

Turning she had been about to go back in to the house when she saw Tyrone had followed her out.

"Can I say sorry for earlier?" he said to her, he had a new can for her in his hand.

She nodded. "Only if you let me say sorry too, Ty," she said with a shrug.

As she took the can from him she sighed. "Ok, I am going to put it down the way I should have when I got here," she nodded as she took a deep breath.

For so long, there had been so much unsaid between the two of them. It had begun when they had been in the pub at Christmas when she had been so tight lipped. When the two of them had been grieving so much – when they had, regardless of that fact, really caught one another's eyes.

"When I got here I was really in to you for a bit. The two of us were so lonely – I just kind of hoped if I got with someone who was as alone as I was then it was going to stop hurting just a little," she said with a shrug. "I wanted you from the start. But then – you weren't ready - and I got mad - but it was the right thing."

He nodded. "Just so you know – even when I was acting as if it was not interested. I – I was just as afraid as you were."

"And I know that. I should have picked up on it a lot sooner than I did."

"You are talking about all this as if it is in the past," he noted.

"It has to be, doesn't it? I like Tommy – no, I _love_ Tommy," she said boldly. How ironic it was he who she confided this in. But as she said the words, she felt herself smiling.

His face dropped a little. "You're in love with him?"

She nodded.

For a moment he looked a little bewildered and confused, and she wondered if he was angry with her. He sighed. "I am happy for you – I just wish it was me."

"Please let us be friends."

He looked at her and nodded. If the two of them could not be together then of course he wanted the two of them to be friends.

Walking over to her, closing the divide between them, he put his hands on her cheeks and kissed her forehead. "Just so you know – if Tommy does mess it up... then I am always going to be waiting in the wings now," he said with a hug.

"With friends like you, I do not think my man needs any enemies," she said with a gentle laugh but he nodded.

"Not at the moment."

She shivered. "I am going to go back in, it is a little chilly."

"Yeah – but before you do, can I say sorry for the night at the club. I had no right to walk out on you he way that I did."

"You didn't make me feel very good that night – but it is all in the past now, babe. Let's just go and get a drink – toast friendship."

He nodded. "Sounds good to me."

She had been on her way in that time when she saw Sophie running out to her. For the first time, since the party had begun it seemed someone was not having a good time and Dawn was not having that.

This was her party. Her and her dad's night. Everyone was going to be speaking about it for weeks to come if she had her way.

"Hey hun," she said as she put her hands on her friends shoulders. "What is it?"

"Dawn – it's your dad."

As soon as she heard those two words there was not another thing in the world that was important to her.

Pushing past the younger of the two Webster sisters, she went back in to the living room to see her dad keeled over on the floor. Eileen as at his side and so was Peter Barlow who had come to the party with his dad and wife Leanne by the looks of things.

But they were not his family.

"Daddy!" she called across the room as she rushed to his side. The only thought in her head was that this could not be happening. Not so soon after her mum, not when her boy friend was in Blackpool, not when her Nan was not with her.

Bending down at Eddie side, she took his hand. "Call an ambulance for him, please just call an ambulance and get my Nan!"_ someone, anyone..._

Looking down on him she tried to smile and be brave for him but if the truth as known in that moment she was not feeling very brave.

She had only just begun to piece together her life once more since she had lost her mother. If she was too...

No, it was not going to happen.

It was too horrible to even contemplate.

She heard Rosie and Sophie as well as Sian telling everyone that it was time to go – that the party was over.

But the only thing she felt at that moment was her father's desperate grip on her hand.

His eyes were trying desperately to focus on her and he opened his mouth, only for her to shake her head.

"It is going to be ok dad, don't try and speak."

She was not going to let him say good bye for this was not the end. She was not going to allow that.

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	31. Chapter 30

**Chapter 30**

When her mother had died Dawn had had no time to get herself ready. She had had no warning. And that was suddenly something she was very grateful for – for even though she did not know if it was so serious for her father, she knew he was not very well and if something was going to happen... if he was going to...

Well, the time she had spent in that hospital trying to keep herself calm had made it even worst.

She had had no idea that a silent corridor could be so loud.

She had no idea really how she had even got there. She knew she had stayed in the ambulance with her dad and she had refused to leave him – someone has offered to drive her to the hospital but she had yelled at them that she had no intention of letting her dad go on on his own.

Someone had to get Hilda up and tell her what had gone on. She thought Sally had said she was going to do that.

She hoped she had by now, and selfishly, not just for her father's sake but her own.

She felt so small. She did not think she was able to cope with all this on her own. She was fine when she was acting like an adult in a normal situation. But it struck her then she was still a child.

She was her father's child and she was by no means ready to go on without him.

But if she could not have him there then, it was her Nan she wanted to hold her and tell her it was going to be ok.

Someone had to be able to do that for her surely.

After all she had been through over the past year, she had no idea whether or not she still had the courage to believe in a god who was good. But in that moment... throughout that night... she would pray to an all loving, all seeing, all caring god as well as her mother. And to Stan.

She would pray to every god of every religion.

She did not quite care which one of them saved Eddie for her, just as long as one did.

And to think, just hours before she had worried over him seeing someone other than her mother. Such a worry seem so small now. Of course she should not begrudge him that – a bit of happiness.

"oh dad, I am so sorry."

In her hand, she held her phone.

All night she had wondered if it would be the right thing to call Tommy... the funeral had been the day before. But it was him she wanted in that moment.

If her father could not hold her, she wanted Tommy there, just as much as she wanted Hilda.

"Miss Yeats?"

"How is he doctor?" she asked.

The doctor gave her a relaxed smile. "Stable and awake, but groggy and in need of rest. Your father has suffered a minor heart attack."

She nodded as she swallowed – she had just known something like this was going to happen. Her mother had always tried to keep her father's weight down and so had she.

But her mum had never put the pressure on him that she had. And yet she had thought she was doing the right thing. And it had only been because she loved him.

"Can I go him and see him?" she asked as she swallowed back the lump in her throat.

She had to see for herself that he was nearer herself than he was her mother.

"Of course."

As fast as she was moving, the walk to his side seemed agonisingly slow.

It was only when she heard the clip clop of her shows on the floor that she was aware she was still made up from the party which suddenly seemed ridiculous.

If only she and her father had had a quiet night with her grandmother, maybe none of this would have happened.

Arriving finally at his room she saw he had been hooked up to all sorts of machines which she told herself was a good thing because they were helping him. He was only hooked up because they were making him better.

But even to her in that moment; even though he was her dad, he looked impossibly small and she wanted nothing more in the world than to take him home and look after him.

Other people's dads went to hospital. Not hers.

She took her shoes off and left them by the door, the cool hospital floor, soothing on her aching feet.

A chair had been placed by his bedside and she sat down, glad to rest a little even though if she was completely riled still.

His eyes opened gently, fluttering – she did not think she had eve r seen him so weak.

He was clearly confused for a moment – and then he saw his daughter.

She instantly held the hand which reached for her.

"Oh Pickle I am so sorry," he said as he focused. "I didn't mean-"

"Shut up," she a shock her head as a fat tear feel on to her cheek. "It wasn't your fault."

He gave her a brave smile but she could see that her own emotions were getting to him. His hand realised hers and wiped the tear off of her cheek.

"I'm ok," he attempted to soothe her.

"I know – but I just got a bit scared back there. I am so not ready to play orphan Annie yet." She shrugged.

He nodded. "No chance of that sweetie pie. You are going to have to put up with me for a long time yet."

"I better." She nodded as she tried to blink away the years that continued to threaten her with a cascade. She had so thought that once they had really begun there new life that all the ghosts of the past were going to be banished. But life wasn't like that.

She had to be grateful for what she had through. And alright the night had gone tits up. But she had her dad alive and with her – and that was the most important thing in the world to her.

"Daddy, I love you."

"Love you too."

XXX

When Dawn awoke, the first thing she saw was her dad. Unlike with her mother when she had forgotten what had gone on every now and again when she had woken up in the morning, there was no chance of that happening due to the crick she had in her neck.

She checked her phone – six thirty.

Her eyes crossed the room to her father and he was sleeping peacefully. It had been a good night then – if he had had any trouble she would have known.

Kissing his forehead lightly, she crossed the room and left it to answers natures call. Just for that morning she wished there had been no mirrors in the bathroom. What a silly thing to worry about at such a time, but she knew she looked rubbish.

And that didn't help the way that she felt.

Walking back to her dads room she glanced in the direction of the visitors room and saw she was not the only one who had been there all night.

Her grandmother sat there with all of the Websters and Sian as well as ... Tommy...

He was here? How was he?

On seconds thoughts she just didn't care.

All six of them were awake and talking in hushed voices as she knock on the door.

"Hey," she said weakly as she shut the door behind her.

"Baby, are you alright?" asked Tommy abandoning his seat and rushing to take her in to his arms.

Shaking her head, she shrugged. "I don't know. What time did you get here?"

"About three – Sian told me what happened, I made the last train."

If the two of them had been on there own then she was quite sure she would have held him for an eternity.

"Was Blackpool ok?" she said as she kissed his ear.

"It was fine. I'm more worried about you." He said as he drew back and looked at her.

"Really. I'm fine," she said as she let go and walked over to her grandmother who was as white as a sheet. She was the only one who had had the comfort of being with her dad all night she reminded herself.

Hilda had been on her own with her thoughts. She remembered how awful she had found it when she had been the one in the corridor.

"Oh Nan," she said as she went over to her and her grandmother pulled her in to the fiercest embrace the two of them had had in a long time.

It almost made Dawn feel as if she was a little again. She didn't know that her thin grandmother could squeezed so hard.

But it was clear that night she had had no one to hold when she had been scared.

"How is he love?"

"He is ok – I mean he is going to need a lot of rest but I think he is going to be ok."

"Did you talk to him last night? Did he come round?"

"Only a little – he was pretty groggy bless him." She said with a brave attempt at a smile. She had to be the strong one.

But it was not one that lasted very long – for it took about five seconds before she felt tears burn her eyes. She turned away from Hilda.

"You got a tissue?" she asked sally.

"Yeah I do," she said to her gently as she dug one out of her bag for the girl.

"Did you get any sleep?" Tommy asked as he looked at her and she nodded. "A bit. Once dad settled it was easy enough to do so." She replied as she dabbed her eyes. "Oh nana I am so sorry," she said as she put her head on her grandmother's shoulder.

"What do you mean you are sorry? Sweetheart, this is not your fault."

"I think it is. I feel as I was the on e who was stressing him out..."

"How?" asked Hilda.

"I just feel as if I was stressing him out and – " a hic cup interrupted her.

"Silly girl, you always try and look after him. This is not your fault."

_If it was anyone's it was me for helping him cheat with his diet. _

"Sweetheart you are exhausted, why don't you let Tommy take you home?" Hilda offered. She would happily stay the morning with her son – but the girl needed a rest.

"I need to be with dad."

"He is going to be fine with me and Sally."

"Give yourself a rest."

Dawn looked at her boyfriend and he nodded. Ever since he had seen her that day he had wanted to take her home.

It was only too clear what a long night for her it had been.

She nodded. She knew the others were right. If she had to nurse her dad back to health then she was going to need to strength to do so.

"Ok."

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	32. Chapter 31

**Chapter 32**

Dawn and Tommy got back to the house to find all the mess from the night before – Dawn knew it had been silly when she thought about it but she had thought to find the place in the same spotless condition it had been before the party.

It may not have been decorated but it had been clean.

"The house warming seems as if it was so long ago now," she sighed mournfully as she turned in to Tommy, desperate to be held.

When the two of them had been at the hospital she had felt as if she had had to be there with her Nan and she had wanted to be – but she had not realised how much she had wanted him until she had seen his face.

Until she had felt his arms round her.

"I bet it does – do you want a drink?" he said softly to her as he eyed the kettle.

She was not the only one who had not had a wink of sleep that night and he knew a brew would go down well with her.

"Yeah I do but first – how was Blackpool?" she asked again as she sat down on the couch in the middle of the mess.

Her dad was going to be fine she thought to herself again – she could think about otherwise. And she was not going to have Tommy thinking she didn't care when she so did.

Knowing that she was ready to really talk about it when he looked in to her eyes, he shrugged. "It was hard to say good bye." He shrugged as he shook his head.

"I can't really take it in that he is dead still. It is going to take a bit of time I guess."

She nodded and reached up to cup his cheek and stroke his cheek tenderly with her thumb which she was gratified to see he leaned in to.

He chuckled as he looked into her eyes.

"You were about the thrilled of the case Dawny – the thrill of winning you. I wasn't meant to fall in love with you girl." He said as he stepped forward to shut the gap between the two of them.

"Well I was kind of hung up on your best mate when you asked me out."

"I did notice." He teased as he brushed his nose against hers.

"Who'd of thought we would rely on one another so much , ehm, kid?"

"Not me."

The two of them stood there holding one another for longer than they had ever held one another before.

"Babe, I need to go get in the shower." Said Dawn finally as she realised that he was not going to be the first to break away.

"Aye love, I know." He said as he wondered over to the kettle. "I'll bring the tea up – then the two of us can try and get a bit of kip."

"That is a plan Mr Duckworth."

XXX

The two teas went undrunk though Tommy had brought the two of them up to Dawn's room. Once she had got in to her pyjamas the two of them had wrapped themselves in one another's arms and feel to sleep.

The first thing she did when she woke up was check her phone – it was half nine and she had no messages.

Then her dad was still ok.

Turning over she saw Tommy was still crashed out with every reason to still be. He had lost his granddad and buried him and then he had had to catch a late train home to be with her.

If she had been asked if he would travel through the night to be with her then she was pretty sure she would have said that he wouldn't. She had a lot still to learn about her man it seemed.

And part of that she knew was that she had to trust him with her heart absolutely.

Leaning over she kissed his forehead before she got out of bed, pulled on her dressing gown and went down the stairs.

She was not going to let grandmother come back to the house the state it had been in – when she had not even been to the party, that really wasn't fair.

There was something oddly therapeutic about cleaning that day – normally she hated it as much as the next girl, but just for that day, as long as it gave her a job to do then she did not think she minded.

By the time that Tommy came down the stairs she had put all the plastic cups in the bin, she had cleared the food and was on to the washing up.

She had waited to hover until he had come down though. She had not wanted to wake him.

"Did you get any sleep?"

"A couple of hours. Enough." She nodded. "I am going to go back up to the hospital in a bit."

"Ok well let me get a shower and then I i will come with you." He said as he gave her a hug from behind.

"You know love; you have had a really hard time it yourself. If you did not want to then I wouldn't blame you. Besides United are on the box today." She said to him with a teasing smile.

"When are you going to get it through your head I love you?"

He was not going to leave her to visit her dad so that he could watch the football.

"Today – hopefully," she said as she kissed his cheek.

And then his mouth... and then cleaning was forgotten.

XXX

"Didn't mean to scare you – not any of you," said Eddie as he pulled the oxygen mask away from his face.

He had been vaguely aware of the fact his daughter had gone home that morning but she had sat by his side like a little guard dog all night. Now he had Sally and Hilda to contend with.

"Why don't I go and get some teas?" said Sally after a while knowing that the pair were struggling to talk with her in the room.

"Thanks chuck."

As soon as she had left the room, Hilda turned to the man and gave him a stern look.

"You gave me a bit of a fright there lad. You ever do it again and I swear there is going to be hell to pay." She said as she reached for his hand.

It had been brought back to her last night that he was the only child she had left. There was nought in the world she would trade him for.

The last time she had been that afraid for someone she had loved.

"Believe me I do not intend on a repeat performance." He sighed as he squeezed the hand he held.

"Got me out of bed and everything," she teased as tears came to her eyes.

"Been near onions today?"

She nodded.

"Is Dawny ok? I mean really?"

"The girl has a rod of steel going through her back."

"That she has – and I think she has got that from you over the years. The pair of you are a lot more alike than you would admit." Eddie sighed as he relaxed into the bed.

"Oh love, it has taken it all out of you," Hilda muttered.

"Having a heart attack will do that."

"You know when you do get home from now on there is going to be no more bacons sarnies on the side. I hate to admit it but it wasn't me who saw this coming a mile off."

"Well it was Marion who did - and she passed it on to Dawn." He recalled.

"I know."

"God, I wish she was here – it would bring some pressure off of yous and our kid."

"Do you miss her?"

"As a friend... yes I do."

The way he had phrased it she knew was meaningful. A silence, a knowing one too, feel over the room. The quiet remained – neither of them needed to say much.

Sally returned with the teas and the three of them sat together for a while before the door opened to reveal Tommy and a fresher faced Dawn.

"Princess," Eddie sat up in the bed. He was done letting her see him weaker than she should. He recalled the moment when she had put in to his arms. He had said he was going to be her superman.

And he had been all the time the two of them had been kicking a ball about the park. But when he was lying in a hospital bed... that was not his idea of looking after her.

"How you doing?" she said as she rushed to his side to kiss his forehead.

"I'll be better once I am home."

"The idea is you get better here." She said with a cheeky smile. "You seen the doctors yet today?"

"Yeah, they said I need a change of diet, a few days bed rest and then I am going to be fighting fit."

"Well, you better be." She said. "I'll do a healthy shop tonight."

"Hmm – you've been on to something for a little while there girly."

And now he had to get a little clued up too he thought.

He and Hilda shared a meaningful look.

No more cheating.

No more cutting corners.

"Thank you Tommy – " said Eddie as he looked at the lad. He was a good boy - he had known it for a long time... but the way he had rushed back to be with Dawn when she had need him. It put confidence in him.

And it made him sure that Tommy was the type of boy he wanted Dawn with.

"Dawn is an awful lot like her Nan – neither of them like to admit to the fact that from time to time they need to be looked after. Don't let her being stubborn fool you lad."

The two man shared a conspiratorial smile. "She doesn't fool me. Not even a little."

"Not even a little?" said Dawn with a raised eyebrow.

"No."

Every night that her father was in hospital Tommy slept at number thirteen with Dawn, even with Hilda there. Whether his devotion to her that night was the thing to change her thinking or if it was just that she was glad to have a third body in the house when Eddie was away, she did not so much as suggest Tommy leave Dawn.

"Well, the two of them are so young and in the first shades of their young love – wouldn't be fair to make them leave one another at a time like this." Hilda had said to Eddie one day when she was visiting.

He had had no idea of the fact deep down she was such a romantic.

Eddie had never been so relieved as the night when he had made it home. He would never admit it to his daughter but there had been a singular moment when he had had to question if he ever would.

Days and days of fussing followed. Hilda stayed home with him all the time and Dawn and Tommy seemed to have more nights in than they should for people there age.

It was only when he got the kids tickets for the football game and sent Hilda to bingo with Sally that he got a moments peace... not that he was going to be on his own.

Dawn remembered still what she had thought about her dad and Eileen on the nights of the party – and then later at the hospital. And so she would let him live his own life. As he let her life her own.

"You are ok with all of this aren't you babe?" she had been so lost in her thoughts as she had been getting ready to out that she had not even seen her Father come to the door as she got ready to go to the ganme,.

She nodded. "Course I am – unless there is a reason I should not be?"

"I just thought what with Eileen coming over – I did not want you to worry over – well, what with your mum and stuff."

"Oh dad, I am not going to start worrying about you forgetting all about mum, I am never going to let you do that," she said as she turned to him. "She is gone dad – but me and you are not."

"Well that is one way to put it my sweet," Eddie sighed.

"I did not mean to sound harsh."

"You have your mother's practicality."

"I just mean to say we have to live life – as she would want us too."

"Ah babe I know that – and you are right darling, of course you are. That is what I have been saying to you. You can't go on worrying about me."

"I still feel worried about you."

"I know. But it is not going to be long until the last year is going to be a bit easier to cope with – it won't hurt so much."

Dawn feel silent for a moment before she looked upwards at him.

"She loved you." Dawn sighed. "Mum really loved you."

"Aye." He said as he bent down and kissed her forehead.

"Chuck, that's the door, it's your Tommy." They heard Hilda call from downstairs.

Looking up at her dad, Dawn smiled. "Well, have a good night. And don't do anything I wouldn't."

"Cheeky." He scolded her lightly as she grabbed her bag and hit the stairs.

"Night kid."

"See you later."

Stepping out in to the street where she knew she had at last settled back down to some sort of normality, Dawn sighed. Her mother was gone beyond recall but her father was going to get better. The street was never going to mean what it had too her grandmother in the past but at least they were together on it together. Tyrone had been the one that got away; if anything could have happened, the boat had set sail without the two of them on it.

She had friends: she had a job. She had a life.

"You alright babe?" Tommy asked her as he put an arm round her and drew her in to him.

"I am now."

The end.

_Please review!_

**Author Note:** Ok, so I did not realise I was at the end of this fic till I started writing this chapter, but then it kind of just finished itself and hit a natural end. I really enjoyed writing this and hoped you enjoyed reading it if you made it this far!


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